The Walls
by La Longue Carabine
Summary: Life is a winding and dangerous path, in war only more so. The first class of Spartan IIs have now been in active service for 40 years and the world has changed around them leaving them to either adapt or join their fallen brethren. Follow IIs, IIIs and IVs into battle open, hidden, and even of their own minds. These are the Walls.
1. Where We Once Were

Okay folks here we go with the start of The Walls. Currently I lack a beta reader (accepting volunteers with sufficient background reading and life experience) so these chapters are going to be kinda rough especially since I'm trying to keep my typing dialect out of this. Also while I'm going to try and keep a fair schedule with this story I'm writing about reflections and issues that DO and HAVE triggered issues with my PTSD.

Now you may be asking 'Why would this guy purposely do trigger something that's about as smart as sticking a knife in his head?' To this I say GOOD QUESTION! Simply put this is therapy, and by getting these ideas out of my head and visiting them upon you all I get to feel better.

For those ridiculously huge fans who are going to be sourcing this entire piece on Halopedia, this is a side story (see: Gundam) not an AU or some such. As such I'm going to be trying to stick to the cannon as close as possible as often as possible. These stories should fit in the gaps left open by the cannon, supplementing it rather than supplanting it. So if you find an issue, leave a review, I'll double check my work happily.

Lastly, this is gonna be one talky story, action will happen but remember the old adage, 'war is hours and hours of boredom punctuated by a few moments of sheer insanity.'

Edit 1 April 2017, swapped the memoranda and this chapter to give people an easier time jumping in.

Edit 9 August 2017, abused grammarly for tweaks

/

* * *

 **Where We Once Were**

0300 HOURS, JUNE 05, 2558 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD UNSC BACKSTAB, INTERSTELLAR SPACE, SECTOR G-102

Rank has its privileges, a common enough sentiment and one that Spartan Nasir sorely missed right now. Ever since he'd transferred to Spartan branch he'd endured the constant and unrelenting frustration of dealing with UNSC personnel who were unsure of where Spartans with their lack of rank fell in the greater pecking order. Never was this more evident than when dealing with the ubiquitous junior officer, currently a lieutenant who seemed to think that Spartans should keep to their deck when in armor. "Spartan I gave you an order, report back down to Spartan country and remove that armor before you step back on my bridge."

It was always unsettling, being out of armor, hence most Spartan-IIs avoiding it as often as they could. MJOLNIR was their second skin and the most obvious mark of service, removing it just felt unnatural. Nasir removed his helmet before fixing a gaze on the lieutenant that would freeze water. "First, last I checked this was still Captain Fokker's bridge." He now turned to fully face the now sweating officer. "And second..."

"Second, Lieutenant Platt, the Spartan here holds functional rank equivalent to a full Commander, in addition to his former naval rank being the same." Nasir found himself cut off as Captain Fokker entered the bridge. "All that aside, I'd expect him to be accorded the basic respect of any of the Spartan-IIs." Fokker grinned after passing Platt and stepped into the bridge proper.

The Lieutenant now looked sufficiently terrified having locked up as soon as the captain had spoken up. His expression had dropped like a stone the moment he realized this Spartan wasn't one of the Spartans that had begun to show up in force with the new military branch but instead was one of the now legendary Spartan-IIs who had survived the war. "S-Sir, I'm sorry about that, I didn't know." Was all that he could get out.

"Go find something to do Lieutenant." Fokker deadpanned with a small note of exasperation in his voice before turning to Nasir. "Commander, if you would?" He motioned the Spartan over as Platt made a rather quick exit. The elderly Captain leaned over the map board bracing himself with both arms. Most would simply assume he was simply focusing on something in front of him but Nasir knew better. Fokker was still hiding his limp from everyone. 15 years ago a chunk of a bridge console had torn its way through his right leg and hip. Nasir remembered the incident all too well, the deck falling out from under him and the chunks of metal pinging off his armor. Fokker had a long history of playing bus driver to Spartans, leading all the way back to the some of the old Project Orion ops. The incident that had almost cost Fokker his leg was a total charlie foxtrot of a day when they had dropped out of slipspace right on top of a covenant corvette.

Nasir moved around the table and set his helmet down on the edge of the holotank, "You ever going to get that fixed sir?"

Fokker glared at the armored giant now standing opposite him, clearly unamused with the Spartan's jibe. "You ever going to learn to quit when you're ahead?"

Nasir chuckled at that, a rather unsettling sound to the rest of the bridge crew. "Why should I bother now? So who's the boot?"

Fokker straightened up, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Lieutenant Platt, he's not a boot but for some reason, he still acts like one." He sighed staring looking back to the Spartan. "Didn't even graduate the academy until a couple of years after the ceasefire."

"Explains the attitude, but I'm guessing he could still use a good couple of tours alongside a Helljumper outfit." He looked back down at the map table finally turning to matter at hand. "So any updates?"

The Captain shook his head, "None, so far everything is still on schedule. You sure this isn't going to turn out like Corinth? I don't have that many functioning joints left."

"Frankly, no sir." Nasir's tone was humorless now, that base neutral tone that made so many see Spartan-IIs as almost machine like. "Then again this time we're exiting slipspace much closer to the surface so you can drop us off then slingshot around the planet giving you a clear scan of the system."

Fokker held his chin examining the displayed system charts as a foot-tall man composed of light and wrapped in robes filled with swirling star field patterns stepped walked onto the table. "Incoming data burst Captain." The AI was stone faced and aloof appearing totally disinterested in the affairs of the bridge as if he had better things to do.

Fokker leaned forward onto the table, "What do you got for us Ptolemy?"

The AI raised his hand and the table charts followed up into midair becoming full projections of the local cluster. "All appears to be quiet in system and the target seems unaware of our spotters."

Nasir leaned in focusing on the planetary systems spinning slowly, "Tol, any sign of commercial or colonial militia traffic?"

The Captain focused in on the system display, "Something we're missing Commander?"

Nasir shook his head, "Just a feeling."

Ptolemy cocked an eyebrow at the Spartan, "Yes but all traffic is within expected patterns. There is no sign of hostile activity."

Nasir leaned back picking his helmet up, "Best plan I can see sir is to drop out of slipspace beyond detection and infiltrate via pelican. We can slip in hit atmosphere and deal with the target before they can respond."

Ptolemy stroked his beard, light flashing behind his eyes. "Including possible Colonial Guard pickets, that puts us at one hour out." Ptolemy looked at the Spartan, "Will your company be ready to deploy this far ahead of schedule?"

Nasir just smiled first at Ptolemy then nodded at Fokker, letting the question hang in the air, it wasn't even worth answering.

Fokker pushed himself back upright, "Alright, your OP, your call Spartan." He folded his hands behind his back as he turned on his heels moving to the fore of the bridge. "Make prep for slipspace exit early and prepare a status update for our spotters."

Nasir pulled his helmet on as he made his way off the bridge as Ptolemy spoke up, "Commander Nasir if you would be so kind to remind your pet AI to stay out of my command networks, it would be appreciated."

Nasir looked up at the ceiling as he spoke as a courtesy to the AI, the humor now back in his voice "No promises Tol."

"Spartan," The Captain called over his shoulder, "Just another OP right?"

Nasir paused at the hatch, "Such as it is sir." He recited as he disappeared from the bridge. Just another OP on, another world, on another day.

* * *

Below decks, Nasir made his way to what had affectionately been nicknamed "Spartan Country". This area consisted of a pair of cargo bays off of the main flight deck which had been repurposed into sleeping quarters and improvised armory. Appropriating space like this was the norm, after all, it was far easier to steal deck space than dislodge crew from living quarters. The deck was almost silent, the ship's crew giving the Spartans a wide berth keeping activity in the area to a minimum.

Even with the newer Spartans being recruited from the other branches, the stories, and reputations of the older ones colored them all. Rumors of where the IIs and IIIs came from, their combat actions, and of course the rift between them and the ODSTs all cast shadows over Spartan Branch. Nasir always regretted that rift, many of them did. He liked working with ODSTs, they were the right kind of crazy, you had to be to throw yourself from a ship in orbit inside a metal egg and dive to a planet's surface just to get to get to the fight that much faster. The rivalry between the elite marines and Spartans always meant that he had to work that much harder to bridge the gap on operations.

Over the quiet of the deck Nasir could hear his Spartans conducting operation prep, field stripping weapons, loading equipment, and he could even make out a spar going on before he passed through the bay hatch. The scene was so familiar, so many of these younger men and women reminding him so much of his old family. He stood there allowing himself a rare moment to be lost in his thoughts before snapping back and moving into the bay proper. The only ones to react to his presence were Joseph, Rosenda, and Hesan, his XO and platoon leaders respectively. They had been discussing something and had doffed their helmets, as Nasir approached they took note and all three pivoted to face the Commander. Hesan was the first to speak up as Nasir reached them, "What's the word from above Sir?"

Spartan Arif Hesan was what Nasir deemed as an exception to his usual opinion of the series IVs. The leader of Fireteam Hazard, while not like the Spartan IIs or the IIIs, Hesan displayed a certain determination and quiet fervor that made him fit right in with his predecessors. His attitude fit his image as well, his graying hair and creased face adding to his air of experience. Ari, as he was affectionately known was just as old as the Spartan-IIs, marking him as one of the oldest series IVs in or out of service.

Nasir looked from one Spartan to the next. "FRAGO, deployment's being moved up two hours, we're going to make the last leg of the run with the pelicans to avoid local traffic picking up on the Backstab."

"So we're going to be dropping in bare instead of using coffins?" Rosenda-A344 grimaced, the Spartan III was never a great fan of either SOIEVs or of the newer crash assault protocols. She had was a part of the old Cat-II teams and had served on Dagger and Atlas Teams first with Nasir and later with Kirk, now she acted as the leader of Fireteam Blackout and his first platoon leader. Like many of the Cat-IIs, she had a habit of shirking regs wherever they could get away with it. With Rosenda it was her copper brown hair that she let hang loose, long and messy, in the wrong light one could even confuse her for a civvy if she weren't a seven-foot-tall killing machine. "No air support either, this could go real wrong real fast boss." Having survived the glassing of a planet on three separate occasions Rosenda had a rather poor opinion of working without support, an opinion not uncommon amongst survivors of Reach.

Joseph turned to her and smirked, "Since when are things ever right when we jump in?" Joseph-122, his XO and brother in arms from the beginning, tireless soldier, Spartan fanatic. Joseph had attempted to desert after being augmented alongside the rest of the Spartan-IIs but had been recaptured quickly. This incident had shaken the Spartan's faith in them and hurt morale on any team he was assigned to except for Gold. Nasir and Jorge had given Joseph another chance and he did not disappoint. The nondescript man had learned to strike forward at every turn rather than fade into the background and hide in shame. This cavalier attitude combined with his time ostracized from most of his class pushed him to develop a rather gregarious attitude often being confused for a large ODST out of armor, or perhaps it was just the haircut. "And since when do you not prefer just blowing down the front door?"

Rosenda shot Joseph a sideways glance but focused back on Nasir. "So are who's going to make the drop and who gets to play backup?"

"Speartip and Blackout will make the drop, Raptor and Hazard will play backup, and Serpent's playing driver." Nasir spotted a slight tick of an expression from Hesan at his orders. "Joseph, Rosenda get the squads briefed, Hesan." The two team leaders nodded before moving off as Nasir motioned for Hesan to follow him out of the bay. They headed for the back of hanger out and away from any of the sparse maintenance crews. Nasir depolarized his visor and calmly rounded on Hesan allowing the Spartan to see his face, "Got something you need to say, Ari?"

Hesan picked up on the intention behind Nasir using his nickname and stood easy relaxing noticeably shifting his helmet under his arm. Though just as old as Nasir he often felt like his junior in many ways. "Sir you're sidelining the newer squads and taking Blackout with you again?"

Nasir cocked an eyebrow, "Your point being?"

Hesan let his mask drop allowing Nasir see his unguarded expression. It was rare that old Spartan did such, he was a marine, an ODST at heart and that kind of life bred a certain kind of confidence in a person. What Nasir saw on Hesan's face wasn't the usual self-assured calm expression but instead concern, not for a mission but for the unit. "Word's starting to work around that you don't trust the newer IVs to watch your back."

"Serious or just backchat?" Nasir furrowed his brow, this kind of talk could cripple a unit, and the newer Spartans didn't have the same kind of discipline that the older generations once had beaten into them.

"Backchat for now but it's starting to get obvious that you put Speartip and Blackout up first for ops, and that you only deal with one of the newer IVs personally. Sir if this keeps up it's going to kill morale."

Nasir stood there pondering Hesan's point for a moment before walking past him as Hesan followed. "Tell Crash and Quake they're on backup, Raptor and Hazard are also on the drop now. If anyone asks since we're hedging our bets, and pass along to Joseph that we're full green side on this one." Nasir repolarized his visor nodding at his platoon leader as the smaller man donned his helmet. "We'll dig into this later Ari, thanks." The Commander waved him on back to the bay before as splitting off on his own before swapping all his comms to a private channel for a moment of quiet.

Hesan had proved himself invaluable over the years, not just a capable fireteam leader and officer but Spartan in more than name alone. Hesan had a habit of keeping the older Spartans grounded when working with the newer IVs. Nasir didn't know if he would've been anywhere near as effective an officer without the man's counsel. Today was just another example, He needed his occasional reminder that these fireteams were Spartans and not just a collection of marines.

Nasir didn't head back to the Spartan's bay, instead making his way to one of the pelicans assigned to Phalanx Company. These craft had been part of a recent refit program for special operations craft, containing a host of stealth tech, communication upgrades and even slipspace drives. None of those upgrades were what he was there for, however. The Spartan made his way into the vessel shutting the rear hatch behind him before standing in front of the reason he was there for. "Joy do you really think I don't have enough headaches right now that you feel it's a good idea to step on Ptolemy's toes?" He spoke into the seemingly thin air.

The holotank in front of Nasir lit up and a small figure of amber light now stood before him. Dressed in what looked like a baroque styled set of MJOLNIR armor, her helmet held under one arm revealing apparent wearer to be a young woman with a worn face and an old set of eyes. Joyeuse was a military smart-AI that had been assigned to Phalanx Company and now stood amongst them as much a part of the branch as any of his Spartans. "I have to say I didn't expect him to get so touchy about his personal space." She gave an exaggerated shrug as Nasir noticed a slight smirk form on her face. "I'll be sure to cover my tracks better next time."

Nasir crossed his arms "So what was so important you felt the need to stir him up?"

Joyeuse waved her free hand bringing up a set of displays for Nasir. "I wanted to secure our channels before any of our comm traffic came in. I didn't think it'd be appropriate to let company business out into the open."

"Anything new since our last check in?"

Joyeuse flicked her wrist and moved through the displays. "Basic mail from home for the company, responses for your citations for the last operation have been reviewed and approved, same goes for your materiel requisitions. Did you know that Barnes snuck in three cases of high-velocity AP sniper rounds on the last order?"

"Yeah, I let him tack it on as a last minute thing, wasn't fun dealing with that covvie base with basic rounds." Nasir shook his head remembering the sight of an Elite sniper taking a round off their helmet and snapping off a return shot before someone dropped them. "It's worth the complaints from the quartermaster."

Joyeuse nodded, "Lastly we have the usual load from Admiral Musa and Jun." A contemptuous look appeared on her face, she never liked dealing with Spartan Branch Command, few ever gathered why and she was locked up about her reasons. "Mostly it's the usual complaining from Jun about breaches of protocol, requisitions, your own complaints, and the last time you hurt Commander Griffiths' feelings. So you know, nothing important." She waved her hand dismissively and all but one of the displays around her disappeared. "The Admiral had one message for you though, 'Quit asking.'… Sorry, guess he's getting fed up with it by now."

That disappointed Nasir, he had requested permission to reinstate ranks as an informal company structure. The Spartan Branch since its inception had eschewed formal rank only using the title 'Commander' for detachment leaders and the rank 'Spartan' for all others. He always thought this was at odds with the fact that Musa-096 was himself a Rear Admiral. While a lack of rank may have worked well within smaller groups like the IIs where they all knew each other's capabilities and leadership fell where everyone thought it should regardless. However, there were hundreds of IIIs and over two thousand IVs, with so many it was much harder for fireteams to function in the field with each other when orders ended up irrelevant, conflicted, contradicted, or worse when leadership was removed. Nasir had asked every few couple years to test reinstatement of rank within the branch but was always rebuffed, now apparently Musa's patience was wearing thin.

"You know Hesan's not wrong about the company." Nasir cocked an eyebrow and Joyeuse could feel his expression even through the opaque visor. "Anyone who pays attention to your command records is going to see some old blatant favoritism for the IIs and IIIs and new favoritism to war veterans. You may not like the new guys but a lot of them have earned the name, and those who haven't aren't getting the chance with you."

"I give them-"

"I can count on one hand the number of Spartan IV fireteam leaders you actually trust and lets not even get into your history with Palmer and Griffiths."

"There ar-"

There was a fire in Joyeuse's eyes as she was holding her helmet in her hand and leveling a finger at Nasir, "Quit acting like an elitist snob and realize that Spartans came before you and they'll come after, not all of them had to go through a personalized version of hell."

"Okay, okay I get it." Nasir leaned back almost imperceptibly, showing his surrender.

"Take it from someone who had to build who they are from day one, I know what it's like to lack an identity and I know what it's like to have who you are called into question." Her expression softened as she returned her helmet to rest on her hip. "You're letting your personal issues affect the unit and you know better." Joyeuse's image flickered and faded out but her voice still echoed in Nasir's helmet. "You're more than the name. Now I believe we have an op and I am nowhere near dressed to hit the town."

The pelican's cargo door began to open and Nasir began to head back to the cargo bay. While only having been assigned to Phalanx 2 years prior, Joyeuse had spent more time playing psychoanalyst to the Spartans than he would've liked, but it had a positive effect on morale, both his and the company's.

* * *

Hesan relayed the changes to Joseph and watched the entire tempo of the bay change. A green side op meant that now they had to plan to take and lock down the entire target area. Unfortunately, this now meant that they were going to end up with twenty to thirty Spartans against possible enemy reinforcements. At least this was an insurrectionist op instead of covvies, trying to hold ground without sufficient air support was never a fun time.

He spotted one of Blackout's Spartan's sitting on an ammo crate, finishing her prep swapping the barrel of an M45 and something seemed off about it. "Spartan James." The much younger Spartan snapped to face the team leader, the reaction too fast. "This is your first crash assault isn't it?"

James curtly nodded, "Yes, closest I've come was a high orbit HEV drop behind enemy lines on New Lagos, the Combat drop on Medellanos, and the long range insertion a couple months ago."

That explained it, crash drops weren't exactly standard actions in most of Spartan Branch and Nasir usually restricted them to the older teams. "How'd you manage that, You've been with us for what, 2 years now?"

She shrugged, "Luck of the draw I guess."

Hesan shook his head, "Well time for another baptism by fire."

James focused on her task mumbling something that even his enhanced hearing couldn't pick up.

Now that caught the team leader's attention, He established a private com channel with the Blackout Spartan, "You alright kid?" He wasn't her team leader, but they shared something that Rosenda didn't, they were ODSTs, and that transcended branches. It was always their job to police each other before someone else had to.

James finished with her kit before responding. "Just thinking, about my first combat drop…" She trailed off.

Hesan remembered New Lagos, nasty bit of business with a remnant of the Covenant attempting to capture some Forerunner ruins, a whole assault carrier spearheaded the enemy force driving the UNSC back for months. The 78th Rapid Assault Division, the Dragoons, had dropped in mass while the Covenant fleet was pulled away by naval forces. It was a bloody mess and some of the hardest fighting the UNSC had seen since the war's end. "You made the Lagos drop fresh, you'll make this one fine. There's not going to be nearly as much triple-A this run."

The younger Spartan shook her head, "Yeah, just like any other op right?"

"Yeah, Lagos wasn't your first op though was it?" Hesan depolarized his faceplate giving her a knowing look

James hesitated, "No… No it wasn't…" She finished loading her shotgun and locked it onto her back mag plate.

There were always things that ODSTs new, old, or even former had in their footlocker that didn't need to be said, and Hesan realized he'd tripped over one. Letting the matter drop was the only decent thing to do, but it wasn't good to allow her to let this fester. "You know, the thing about baptisms by fire, eventually you got nothing left to burn." He shut the ammo locker and tapped James on her shoulder with the base of his fist as he passed her. "Report to your team leader Spartan. Just remember your training and you'll do fine."

* * *

Rosenda watched Hesan talk with James as she double checked her gear. Normally she'd appreciate his attempt at helping a member of her fireteam but James was an unusual situation. She and Nasir had gone to some lengths to keep certain aspects of James' life quiet, some of it classified, some of it just unnecessary to bring up.

Hesan though, he was a whole other issue. The platoon leader was a junkyard dog when it came to issues inside his unit. Typically, this served the company well, and he often served as an anchor for the unit. They really should've looped him in on James when she joined the unit. Then again it was James' business to share, so long as she asked for their silence they'd provide it. But Hesan was part of them, as much as James, as much as Rosenda herself. He had earned the name time and time again and none of them questioned the man's position anymore. This was a rift years building and it needed to get cleared soon.

Rosenda stood from the ammo crate she'd been using for a seat as James approached and held her palm up low in front of her giving a little shrug. James responded with a slight shake of her helmet as she passed her team leader. The language was subtle but clear, 'Something to share?', 'No.' This wasn't good but she relented and let it lie as she saw Nasir reentering the bay, deciding to bring this up later.

Looking over to Speartip and Joseph she saw him keeping an eye on her and James. She held one arm low in a fist and flicked a single finger at the XO and immediately a private channel pinged her from him.

"She doing okay?" Joseph asked as he finished his own final checks.

Rosenda kept her eyes on Crash and Raptor doing her best not to give away anything via body language. "No, she's still headed downhill. I'm starting to think Nasir was wrong in getting her fast tracked."

"Yeah, she's got the chops for this but I'm worried it's going to start breaking her down if we keep her at this kind of pace." Joseph shook his head absentmindedly, "Then again I'm not sure she's going to stop even if we try to make her."

"Guess this is her crucible then, here's hoping Nas isn't letting sentiment color his judgement. At least ours wasn't under live fire… well most of the time."

Rosenda could hear him chuckling and started laughing herself ignoring the confused look of some of Fireteam Raptor.

* * *

Nasir stepped back into the bay, sidestepping as Fireteam Serpent passed him by heading for the Pelicans. He smiled as he watched the well-honed play that was mission prep, as he headed for the small holotank in the middle of the room and extracted the data crystal chip inside before inserting it into his neural interface. It felt like cool water pouring over the inside of his mind as the digital construct filled his neural interface and spread out to settle in his armor.

Joyeuse's voice once again chimed in his ears, "Ah fits like a glove." Her eagerness to jump into the field mounted in MJOLNIR armor was often marked by other AIs as reckless and sometimes suicidal considering Spartan's missions but for her, there was nothing that made her more content than riding shotgun in a Spartan's head. The pairing wasn't just for the AI's good though, some Spartans could almost feel the fractions of seconds cut off their reaction time with a full AI translating neural impulse into the armor's physical response. It was this improvement in ability that made 'dumb' AIs dedicated to the task more common in the newer MJOLNIR armor.

"Glad you're enjoying yourself." Nasir made his way over to his own little corner of the bay. Most detachment commanders took quarters with ship's officers but Nasir held onto the old Spartan II habit of just crashing down wherever there was space.

"Hesan and Rosenda are reporting all fireteams ready." Joyeuse allowed her avatar to appear in Nasir's HUD as if she was standing beside him. "The Nav is about to call warning. Serpent has the pelicans' prepped and spooled up." She smirked and gave the commander a sidelong glance. "Shall I call the dance?" Picking up his own gear he heard the chime overhead and nodded to Joyeuse.

"All hands prepare for slipspace deceleration." The voice of the navigation officer called over giving the crew a chance to brace.

The next voice was Joyeuse's as she faded from his HUD calling out and signaling for their operation to start. "Rise up, warriors, take your stand at one another's sides, our feet set wide and rooted like oaks in the ground."

This was quickly followed by Joseph's call, "Okay Spartans, find your seat before the music ends!" The Fireteams piled into Pelicans and Nasir had just planted his feet onto the boarding ramp of the lead one as he felt the shock from exiting slipspace.

Looking to his XO, Joseph gave him the ready signal and Nasir took his position in the center of the pelican grabbing a handhold and keying the command channel as the craft's bay door locked, "Backstab, Phalanx Company, Pelicans Dog 217, 218 and 219, requesting permission to disembark."

Nasir was surprised when it was Captain Fokker's voice that came back at him instead of the officer of the deck or the operations officer, "Greenlight Commander, good hunting."

"Always sir." Nasir swapped to an open channel, "Phalanx, op is a go. Let's go ruin someone's day folks." Acknowledgment lights winked once on his HUD as the pelican shook and accelerated into open space.

Nasir felt Joseph tap his shoulder with his knuckles, a question 'All ok?' Nasir returned the gesture 'All ok.' With that, Joseph took his seat and Nasir grabbed a second handhold. It was just before the slipspace entry shock that the thought ran through his mind, one that had rang out more and more often since the end of the war, 'How did we end up here, all the way from where we once stood?'

* * *

dit: 8 October 2016 - added notes

Okay so tacking on Notes here for everyone

This chapter sits to introduce you to the characters that the story will lead up to. The next several chapters will be flashbacks following not just Nasir but characters that surround him, Gold Team, Dagger Team, Fireteam Speartip and Phalanx Company. The story will cover a huge range of time and characters both cannon and OC, I'm a big fan of Gundam style work especially that involving Shin Matsunaga and Johnny Ridden along with the other characters introduced with the chimera corps, MSV, and other series like Blue Desity. In all of these stories the authors create a whole new cast that is designed to slide right into cannon without losing a step. I view Halo in the same light as Gundam in this way, Halo 1-3 as compared to Reach, as compared to Wars, Ghosts of Onyx, Kilo 5, Halo 4 and then Halo 5. Each iteration creates a host of new characters to tell stories about while preserving the essence of the mythos as a whole. In this vein Halo: The Walls will feature a mixed cast which I hope you folks will enjoy.

Bonus points if you can guess character background points before I get explicit.

Also still looking for a Beta reader, not really perturbed with someone who wants to offer ideas (so long as they don't mind me not accepting any)

Dramatis Personae introduced

Commander Nasir-025, OC here for storytelling purposes, Spartan II, Commander Phalanx Company, Fireteam Speartip team leader

Captain Fokker, OC created because Bungie/343 never gave us enough cool naval personnel

Spartan Rosenda-A344, referenced in Halo: Reach development and background materials, Spartan III, Fireteam Blackout team leader

Spartan Arif Hesan, OC because most of the Spartan IVs we get from 343 _coughterriblecomicscough_ , Spartan IV, Fireteam Hazard team leader

Spartan Joseph-122, referenced in Halo: Legends short Homecomming. Spartan II, Phalanx Company XO (unofficial position) Fireteam Speartip

Spartan James, points to you folks if you figure this one out before I come out and tell you. Spartan IV, Fireteam Blackout

Joyuse, Smart AI, OC created because well AIs burn out after 7 years so they're kinda needed to rotate. Expect more of them due to length of story timeframe


	2. Memoranda

Memoranda may be skipped, it serves only as background and prologue. Though you may wish to come back and read this after seeing events unfold in the story.

Edit 1 April 2017, moved the memoranda to ch2 to let people jump in easier

Edit 9 August 2017, minor tweak, changed Nasir's ID from 025 to 125, 343 came out with Robert-025. I'm leaving the grammar here sloppy while correcting the other chapters because this is an in universe document, some poor human had to write it and this is about as good as I've seen from other memoranda.

* * *

 **WARNING THE FOLLOWING IS CLASSIFIED EYES-ONLY**

 **COMPROMISING THE EYES-ONLY CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH**

Office of Naval Intelligence Section III

FROM: CODENAME HARDHAT

TO: CODENAME SILVERFISH

Date: -Error, vessel in slipstream transit-

Ship Date: 28 May 2558

Location: Error –Vessel in slipstream transit-

Re: NAVSPECWAR assets

Re: Sierra

 _\- As asked I have compiled an evaluation of remaining Spartan II and III personnel. We both know this is dangerous territory and if Musa or Hood find out about this we're going to end up with our heads on the block.-_

1\. Spartan II personnel are now primarily assigned to Spartan branch with only Blue Team (058, 087, 104, and 117) remaining with NavSpecWar. With the loss of Black Team on Installation 03 this leaves ONI assets seriously diminished.

Originally it was estimated that most remaining Spartan IIs would remain inside NavSpecWar but is appears that Musa was able to convince Spartan-125 to join the branch and that it was 125 that convinced the others to follow.

Current estimates for Spartan II performance do not show any physical failures. Halsey's augmentation procedures are proving far more robust and enduring than Ackerson's or Musa's for the IIIs or IVs. Psychological performance is another matter. Currently 117 seems to be suffering from combat fatigue and appears to be close to the breaking point. Blue Team has been engaging in missions almost nonstop after 117's recovery on Requiem in July 2557.

The Spartan IIs have now been in active service for 41 years, combat service for 33. Simply put they may be beginning to wear down. However, if we use the original Spartan I (Project Orion) personnel as a baseline, this may turn out to be merely a hiccup in their performance. Spartan I personnel have been noted as having 40+ years of active combat service, and even amongst those who originally chose to retire or who were medically discharged for psychological issues have returned to service either during the Covenant invasion in 2552 or later under the Spartan Branch invitation.

2\. Spartan III personnel have almost completely been reassigned to Spartan Branch despite Admiral Parangoski's objection and efforts to hide them away as she did with G099, G291, and G313 by hiding them in a ferret team. Several Alpha and Beta Company personnel formerly part of the Cat-II Teams have also transferred to Spartan once again at the prompting of Sierra-125.

Hiding the illegal augments of Gamma Company is still a priority, the loss of control of these assets is a serious risk and needs addressing. Alpha and Beta Cat-II personnel lacking these augments pose little risk as most individuals, both civilian and military outside ONI and NavSpecWar simply believe them to be the same as Spartan IIs.

Spartan III physical augments appear to be very stable and show no sign of degradation after 22 years of active service (Alpha Company). Although not as robust the Cat-II personnel have shown similar synergistic effects making their performance almost as impressive as their predecessors. Due to their transfer intel, outside of shared information sources (surveillance, operation reports, AI dumps) as well as basic observations by ONI personnel onboard shared ships and duty stations, is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain.

Psychological evaluation on the IIIs is much easier with our observers performing field interviews under the cover of medical assistance. The Spartan IIIs appear to be much more susceptible to combat stress and fatigue. Analysis of Teams Noble, Echo, and Gauntlet before their loss showed a myriad of issues in the IIIs, from insubordination outside of their teams to full blown sociopathic tendencies dwarfing what the IIs exhibit. It is unknown if these issues resulted due to deficiencies in their training or due to their operating style which was much more isolated compared to the IIs and the IVs. Further observation may yield better answers.

22, 16, and 7 years of active combat service and an age range all the way from 17 to 35 means a full and thorough analysis is difficult at best, impossible at worst. The increasing stress on the IIIs warrants further investigation and observation. While the Spartan IIs appear to be good baselines for evaluating the Cat-II personnel, the remaining Gamma Company Spartans are still an evolution in progress.

3\. The lynchpin of the issues here appears to be Admiral Musa-096, his Chief of Staff Jun-A266, and Commander Nasir-125. 125's psych evals have showed near identical results for several years before he transferred branches indicating that he may have been hiding something. His convincing of so many of the remaining IIs and assistance in convincing the majority of the remaining IIIs seems suspicious. While rare, there have been serious loyalty issues amongst the Spartan IIs. Soren-066 was involved in an insurrectionist plot on Reach in 2527 and Randall-037 was AWOL for a decade before refusing to be reintegrated into service and having to be retired. Combined with the escapes and recovery of several others post augmentation shows the IIs are not infallible or 100% loyal.

To date there is no direct evidence of issues of Spartan IIIs loyalty being in question. Although there have been a string of disciplinary issues, insubordination, and a longstanding habit of procurement of equipment outside of orders, these acts alone do not appear to illustrate any deeper faults. That said the constant exposure to 125 may prove corrosive to their discipline.

There have been numerous reports from embedded personnel aboard UNSC Infinity of disputes between the Spartan Contingent lead by Spartan 125 and Spartan Sarah Palmer, Infinity's local contingent Commander. The driving force behind these disputes is not apparent but it is unlikely to be a mere territorial pissing match considering the IIs have never displayed such behavior. These disputes have led to a good deal of friction and some smaller conflicts between 125's contingent and multiple different units of IVs but none to the extent of Infinity's Commander.

The best theory we can offer is that 125 is aware of the attempted assassination attempt on Dr. Elizabeth Halsey but many of the reports predate the Requiem Campaign which leaves us with professional conflicts, again a questionable theory at best.

4\. The remaining Spartan IIs are a very real liability, with no real map of their eventual aging and degeneration we lack any idea of how to predict their behavior. Their increased isolation within the Spartan Branch has seemingly increased their sociopathic tendencies in some ways and made them less predictable in others. Blue Team as well is likely to hit its breaking point soon.

Measures need to be taken to remove the Spartan IIs from service and retire them quietly. Preferably that they are eliminated in combat and Section Two works up a suitable heroic story for the media for them. We cannot afford for them to let them realize what kind of political and social power they can wield. Advise reviewing records of Col. Ackerson's retrieval of Spartan Kurt-051 as example of easy removal from the field.

Alternatively we can publicly retire them the same way Spartan Maria-062 did, despite her return to service in the Spartan Branch. This may prove difficult as resistance may be met and it does give them nothing but idle time to fill. Any further action on their part can be mitigated as was done with the Spartan I series via medical discharges and observation units.

The Spartan III Cat-II units currently appear stable and functional within their new roles and currently require no action. Future recommendations are identical to the Spartan IIs.

Gamma Company personnel need to be shifted into ferret teams or integrated into command directly under ONI. The augments made to their brains could cause serious problems in the outer colonies if word got out. The truth behind the Spartan III program could end up doing as much if not more damage than the Spartan II program, there's a reason we decided to keep the lid on this one despite Admiral Parangoski's original intent.

Lastly we need to be careful of the Spartan IIs loyalty to Dr. Halsey. It's near if not total veneration and could end very poorly if we attempt to use them against her while she's with 'Mdama's forces. Alternatively we cannot allow her to contact the IIs as she's swung them to her aid before bringing several IIIs with them. Her threat level cannot be understated and she is not to be underestimated in any regard.

 _\- Okay there you have it, you asked, I provided, anything deeper than this and you're going to end up owing me this time. Frankly we can run out the clock on the IIs, the IIIs we can worry about later. The real threat here is Halsey, she stole Spartan 087 and tricked Admiral Hood into sending the rest of Blue Team to Onyx essentially hijacking multiple Spartan IIs along with several squads of Spartan IIIs. While her actions worked to our benefit in the end, we cannot ignore her repeated self and Spartan serving actions especially now that she has apparently joined Jul 'Mdama.-_

 _\- Then again if you honestly believe for one second she's given up on her Spartans and signed on with the covvies, I got a planet to sell you.-_

 _-Again, this wasn't written, we never spoke, anyone finds this out and I'll make sure you end up first on the rope so I can watch.-_

 **WARNING THE CONTAINTED IS CLASSIFIED EYES-ONLY**

 **COMPROMISING THE EYES-ONLY CLASSIFIED INFORMATION IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH**

 **DELETE CONTAINED FILE AFTER READING….**


	3. Reconciliation

**Reconciliations**

1920 HOURS, JUNE 30, 2525 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, TRAINING FACILITY 62, PLANET REACH

Three days, she had been back for three days and somehow they had been worse than any other. Worse than being stolen from her home, worse than being shot at, worse than having fire and ground glass shoved into her veins and even worse than finding out that she wasn't even herself anymore. The last three days she had been alone, for the second time in her life she was alone. She had come back to Reach willingly after finding some _thing_ occupying her former life, no one had told them just how far the program went to keep its secrets. Now here she sat, she wasn't locked in there by any means it was just the only place she didn't feel like she was being watched.

Three weeks ago she along with another four Spartans had escaped after surviving the augmentation procedures that crippled or killed over half their class. Joseph had been recaptured quickly, they picked up Ralph and herself soon after reaching their former homes. The other two, well, they couldn't take what they found and had decided to never face anything again.

When the three of them had been returned to Reach there had been a change in the air between them and the other Spartans. It was if something had been broken, that sacred trust that had been built up between them, shattered the instant the rest of the Spartans had been told that the three of them had gone AWOL. While she had participated in unit assemblies, recovery had still been ongoing when she returned so those were limited. This allowed her to see just how much the rest of the Spartans wanted to distance themselves from her. She had abandoned them, the only family she had left and she cast them aside, for nothing.

The flat gray walls that surrounded her were cool to the touch and provided the only comfort she had, isolation, quiet. Her reverie was suddenly disturbed as the door opened and light flooded the small storage room she had turned into her refuge and blinded her.

"Get up!" A figure shouted at her, another Spartan she could tell, but who she couldn't make out yet.

She rose to her feet but apparently not fast enough as the Spartan grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her to the wall with his forearm. Face to face now she could see who it was now and it didn't make sense. Nasir's face was contorted with anger and wasn't something she had ever seen directed at another Spartan. Even when they were pitted against each other in training he had kept his head. The shock was enough to keep her from attempting to break off from his assault.

"Who the hell are you?" It was almost growled at her, the contempt dripping off his every word and visible in his eyes.

'This doesn't make any sense why would he ask' ran through her mind before answering on instinct, "Daisy-" She didn't get a chance to finish before she felt the impact against her solar plexus knocking the wind out of her. Nasir let her go and she braced against the wall unable to straighten up, he had put his full force into the blow. She could now see that Nasir was flanked by Jorge and Carris, both of who were wearing pained expressions. None of this made any sense, the hostility, the contradictions.

"I just spent seven years alongside Daisy, I know her, I don't know you." Nasir snarled out at her. "So, _Who Are You_?"

Daisy caught her breath enough to try responding again. "Sierra zero two three." A mistake apparently which earned her a blow against the right side of her jaw which staggered her again keeping her off balance.

"You don't get to call yourself that, plenty of us died earning those call signs." His voice had turned cold, the sharp edge of his words now contrasting with his earlier rage. "Who. Are. You?"

With that Daisy snapped, who was he to question who she was, who was he to question what she had been through? She wasn't some civvie girl waiting to die, she wasn't just any soldier, she knew who she was, what she needed to be.

Lancing out She smashed her fist into the inside of Nasir's right knee throwing him off balance. As he fell she rushed forward and up bringing the back of her head into his face with a crunch before shoving him onto his back. Now she was finally off the back foot and jumped on top of him holding him down in the mount as she struck again and again as her opponent simply defended.

"Daisy Spartan zero two three, That's who I am!" She almost screamed at the bloodied teen below her but it was what she heard next that stopped her cold and confused her. Laughter, he was _laughing_ at her from behind his arms. It was a dark throaty sound, muffled by what was probably a broken nose and split lip and it almost undid her newfound certainty in her purpose.

Nasir was actually _smiling_ at her as he dabbed his hand over his nose looking at the results of Daisy's handiwork. Gone was the rage, the indignation, the contorted expression on his face, now replaced with mirth. "Glad you finally figured it out."

She shifted back onto her haunches and stood up looking at Carris and Jorge who were also both now wearing expressions of relief. This didn't make any kind of sense Nasir had attacked her, and she responded in kind but now their body language gave an entirely different image to her. It was Carris who broke her focus, "We were wondering when you'd remember."

Nasir propped himself up on one elbow offering his other hand to her. Daisy eased off looking down at her former assailant before relenting and grabbing his hand, pulling him to his feet. Nasir noticed that she was still giving him a hostile glare and smiled wider as he tried to assuage her concern. "You weren't you when you came back Daisy, you had us worried."

Daisy's expression fell with that, now looking at Carris and Jorge who were smiling at her. "You mean all this was just to..."

"Get you to get up and remember what you are." Carris finished for her. Daisy remembered Carris had been in a dark place years ago after accidentally killing a trainer. The ten year- old Spartan probably wouldn't have come back if not for Nasir and Jorge.

Jorge grabbed Nasir's shoulder and turned him around holding his chin and quickly examining his injuries, "She sure did a number on you, Nas." He let Nasir go taking a step back, "Doesn't look broken but can't hurt to get it checked out."

Daisy was dumbfounded, where the rest of the Spartans had shunned her after her desertion, these three were acting like it was just a bump on her end, as if it was a bad day rather than the betrayal it was. "Why?" was all she could muster at them.

Nasir was still nursing his nose double checking for breaks so his voice sounded as if he was stuffed up. "Because you weren't you when you came back."

She was just starting to grasp the situation when Nasir opened his mouth again. "At least I didn't have to do this with Joseph too, he woke the hell up with just a few knocks on the head." He flinched as he tried to fiddle with his nose while a bit of blood trickles down his face.

Carris clicked her teeth at that. "That's because Joseph is still broken, when he sorts himself out he'll probably remove some of your teeth." The comment drew a glare from Nasir but she let it slide just smiling innocently at him.

Jorge broke the new tension and clapped Daisy on the shoulder and motioned with his head, "C'mon let's get him to the infirmary."

Daisy couldn't do anything else but simply follow them these apparent madmen. Carris cuffing Nasir on the back of the head as he kept touching his nose aggravating the damage, Jorge just laughing at them both. She shook her head at the scene, "I swear you guys are nuts."

* * *

1826 HOURS, DECEMBER 31, 2529 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ EPSILON INDI SYSTEM, SECTOR BETA-2, PLANET HARVEST

"You guys are nuts!" Daisy shouted over the cacophony created by the sound of heavy machinegun and rifle fire. Joseph and Carris had decided to pick a fight with a passing Covenant patrol confident that the three Spartans could handle a single lance.

Daisy kept her position as long as feasible but her squad mates had pushed the patrol's flank forcing her leapt from her position in overwatch as an elite minor turned his attention to the Spartan. Rushing the alien, she burned through his shields with fire from her MA5, pushing him back before reaching him and delivering a buttstroke to its 'chin' with enough force to deform its armor and throw the creature back into a heap.

Quickly taking cover to reload she snapped up as a second elite came around the corner of a nearby building. Catching it by surprise she piled rounds into the second target dropping him and scattering the grunts that were following behind him in a panic. This didn't sit right she thought, covenant patrols typically only consisted of a single elite and a bunch of grunts and Jackals.

Daisy reloaded and pulled a grenade sprinting to the dead elite, pulled its pin and turned the corner he had come down and sidearmed the grenade right into the gut of another Elite 15 meters away who was rallying the fleeing grunts, giving them only a half second of surprise before they ended up smears on the sidewalk. She had called it right another squad, "It's not a patrol it's force recon!"

Joseph's voice came over comms, "You sure? It might be just some leftovers stuck together?"

Daisy quickly made her way back to the street where she had left her squadmates, seeing Joseph deal with the last few survivors of the original squad, "Negative, got 3 hinge-heads already and I'm guessing more." She took aim and caught another jackal by surprise on the wrong side of its shield, ending it before it could react. She and Joseph both shifted aim after hearing the booming crack of a sniper rifle, having sight of Carris they moved up to cover on opposite sides of the street.

"Confirmed!" Carris came into view moving at full tilt and Joseph and Daisy quickly found out what she was running for. She was falling back from another group of jackals immediately followed up by a pair of elites. Daisy and Joseph laid down covering fire but the wall of jackals just absorbed the hail as the hostiles advanced, now being backed up by another pair of squads from down the street.

Carris slid into cover beside Joseph, "I put a round through the senior alpha-bravo and they seemed to take offense." She laughed before passing the sniper rifle up to Joseph as she unlimbered her MA5 and took over his cover position while he ran for a flanking vantage point.

Carris swung out lobbing a grenade but a plasma rifle round caught her in the shoulder skewing her aim and sending the explosive wide enough to render it ineffective. "Damn!" She fell keeping low behind cover checking her armor. "Breach, but I'm up."

Daisy signaled her to fall back as the covenant forces continued to advance much more cautious after losing so many so quickly. The counter fire was picking up as the additional squads reached the first, this was about as poor a situation as it could get, any further back and even if Joseph could flank them the covenant could almost envelop them. A booming crack followed by a thud signaled the drop of another elite forcing the enemy formation to shift its fire easing up on Carris and Daisy giving them a chance to fall back to heavier cover.

As they were falling back Daisy caught sight of a grunt shouldering a fuel rod cannon and her eyes went wide, "Cannon!", was called out but she wasn't sure who, and in all the haze she didn't notice a pair of acknowledgment lights doing a green double flash. The grunt ducked behind the jackals avoiding their suppressing fire taking his aim between a pair of shields. Joseph took a shot at him but the sniper round instead caught one of the elites in the abdomen as it moved up directly behind the shield wall.

Then, all hell seemed to break loose. Heavy machinegun fire erupted from the rear flank of the shield wall ripping into the enemy line and throwing it into a panic. What drove it all right into pure chaos was when the grunt with the fuel rod cannon turned and fired randomly on in the direction of their assailants before catching a round in its face. As the small alien fell it triggered one last cannon round, only this time it was pointed right into the heart of the enemy formation.

The explosion broke the shield wall and was the signal for all three Spartans to open fire, the elites were torn down by sniper fire, the jackals raked by rifle rounds, the grunts scattered and were picked off by the machine guns. The entire engagement had turned, from what was about to become a fighting retreat into a full blown massacre. Several dozen corpses now littered the street with blood and shrapnel everywhere.

As Daisy and Carris advanced up sweeping the street for any remaining targets and looking for the source of the supporting fire a pair of contacts popped up on their HUDs. Someone had just turned up the power on their IFF, S-125, S-052.

"You guys looked like you needed a hand." A voice called out as two MJOLNIR clad figures emerged from the ruins of a building down the block.

"I dunno big guy, I think they could've handled it." Daisy could hear the smile in the second voice, despite how he looked.

Jorge and Nasir, the missing members of Gold team, both of which had been missing for almost 6 months. The two Spartans looked like they had been put through the wringer, their armor covered in field repairs and modifications, it's color had been washed out most probably by plasma fire and the only weapons they had were a pair of crew serve machineguns that had been torn from their mountings and a couple of Covenant sidearms.

Carris slung her rifle and swiped two fingers across her faceplate, the signal was as close as it got to an outward emotional outburst while in armor. Jorge and Nasir nodded as they approached the rest of their team. Joseph's voice cut over their comms before they could continue their reunion, "Possible contact, a couple clicks south of us. Either it's scheduled backup or they got a signal off. Either way, I think we need to finish this later."

Nasir nodded to Daisy, "You guys have the lay of the land, lead on."

Daisy signaled to Carris to team to take up positions and move out keeping intervals with Joseph pulling up their rear. Their silent march was broken by Jorge's voice, "By the way Gold, happy new year."

Laughter echoed between them, a sound all too rarely heard these last few years.

* * *

They had made their way into the basement of an old civil complex that had been used as an emergency shelter before the Covenant had cleared out the survivors, then as a depot for one of the earlier UNSC offenses. It had been their rally point and base of operations in this sector for the last several months after Gold Team had been split to different theaters.

Jorge plopped down against a wall prying his helmet off and seemed to revel silently in the rest. He was followed by Nasir who did the same before he started fishing in his field case pulling out some combat rations and offering one to Jorge who waved him off.

Carris watched them as she started to rearm, the two looked worse for wear, their armor scorched and faded, patched and even had spot weld marks holding mounting gear on them. They hadn't shaved and while Jorge had a thick short beard, Nasir had a short mess, more what one could expect from a 20-year-old. "So where the hell have you two been?"

Daisy stood over the two pulling her helmet as well, "We thought you two bought it when we lost contact with Okolnir." There was a waver there in her voice that only the team could notice and only Carris bothered to.

Jorge smiled leaving his eyes closed, "We held the base for another 2 weeks after the battle net went down but after a while, the installation commander decided to bug out. We were tasked with the demo op while the rest of the personnel evaced, but by the time we caught up with the convoy the covvies had already finished with them." His light expression faded into one of regret.

"Two weeks…." Carris moved to stand beside Daisy over Jorge and Nasir. "Then what about the other 5 months?"

Nasir muttered something as he chewed his ration before swallowing. "It's a long hike from Oko to here, and there's a lot of alpha-bravos in the way." He pulled over his M247 and started field stripping it in his lap using his mag holster to hold the parts. "Also we got into a hunting match with some split lip commander. Turns out the covvies have put down one of their main bases right between Okolnir and here, so there's that."

"So you two have been out and about with no support for the last five months, walking across the continent, all while trying to skirt the edges of the Covenant main ground force?" Daisy cocked an eyebrow at the scruffy looking Spartans who both just shrugged.

Jorge opened his eyes looking up at her, "Well when you put it like that is sounds down right impressive."

Nasir chuckled quietly as he finished reassembling his weapon. "Honestly we just made a game of it, you know, like one of Mendez's nastier exercises." He reloaded the crew serve, slapping the feed tray down and set it aside. "Got to say though, lucked out that Jorge was with me, I can't imagine how terrible it'd have been having one of your guys as my sole conversation partner the whole time."

Jorge couldn't help but let a single laugh out at that, while Carris planted her boot on Nasir's shoulder and gave him a push. "So what about you, got to say you look like you're in better shape than we are."

"Well, that's because we've had support." Joseph had dragged over an ammo crate to sit on and had doffed his helmet as well. "Elements of the 105th, 11th, along with a good chunk of the original task force are still holding out in Alpha, Gamma and Delta sectors. We're about all that's left in Beta but it's enough to keep the covvies thinking twice about getting anything through here."

"Yeah, every once in a while we get rotated around for a couple hours of sack time, some warm chow, and maintenance." Carris yanked her helmet and ran a hand through her short crop of hair. "Personal hygiene too, which it looks like you guys could use."

Nasir scratched his chin smiling, "I don't know, I kind of like this." He ran his hand over his own shaggy mop, "Though I will admit this could use some work."

Jorge scratched the back of his shorn head, "If you'd bother to use the knife you wouldn't have this problem."

"Yeah cause last time ending up with a scab ridden scalp wasn't bad enough, I'll pass."

Carris smiled at that, she could only imagine how sorry he must have looked, his head covered in cuts and uneven hair. She was still amazed at the fact that these two had somehow survived for so long set apart, Spartans were tough but months of that kind of isolation was hard to imagine. Daisy had marked them as missing in action two months after they lost contact, that hadn't sat well with Joseph. Gold Team had become an insular family even amongst the other Spartans and the apparent loss of half of the team, the two members who had dragged both Joseph and Daisy from the brink, could have proved a fatal distraction.

Jorge's voice roused her from her thoughts. "So any news on Green Team?"

Daisy shook her head, "Retasked and evaced before the battle net went down, though Keiichi's out there detached to the 11th."

Nasir winced, "Ouch, I'm sure the ODSTs are just loving having him around." He shifted in his place and seemed to settle in. "You guys think they're coming back for us?"

The group got quiet, all of them had asked the question at some point but never out loud, it felt like some kind of taboo to pose it. Typically, their training gave them the confidence and certainty to get through anything, but this was different. Years on this world fighting the covenant had turned so much of their training on its head, forcing the Spartans to adapt, improvise, and overcome. Unfortunately, this meant the only answer Carris could offer was, "Sooner or later..." She wasn't so sure she believed it though.

* * *

Hours later they had settled into a watch pattern decided to lay low and give Jorge and Nasir a chance to rest without having to keep their own watch. Daisy made her way back into the complex after being relieved by Joseph for last shift. They'd be moving again in another few hours and she wanted to try and force herself to sleep, just because they _could_ go for days without sleep didn't mean they liked doing it. She settled into a spot near the rest of the team she eyed Nasir and something struck her as off. She opened a locked channel with him and clicked her comm, still no movement. "Knew you were awake." Any Spartan woken from sleep by a comm signal would snap alert, he hadn't even twitched.

He finally turned to face her, "Guess I'm busted then. What's up Daisy?"

"Can't Sleep?"

"Can, just don't feel like it."

"Nearly six months on the run and now that you're finally safe for a night you're spending it awake?"

He shrugged, "Not all of it." The silence was oppressive until he spoke again. "You didn't leave us behind, you know that right?"

She almost flinched, he'd already caught on. Months ago she'd moved his and Jorge's status to MIA and while she may have held out hope she'd never gone looking for them. "We left you two out there, we should've known you were still alive."

"Daisy, they glassed Oko."

That stopped her cold, ever since they'd landed on Harvest the Covenant had glassed parts of its surface, they'd all been on the wrong end of that particular tactic. Orbital or high altitude plasma bombardment left nothing but vitrified soil and they all knew never to expect survivors when it started. Plainly put, it was hell on earth and nothing in their training had prepared them for anything like it. "I didn't know."

"I know, I'm telling you because even if you had known command would have assumed me and Jorge lost. It was a bad situation and there was nothing you could do."

She shook her head, "John would've gotten you out."

"Bull!" She was taken aback at his tone now. "John learned years ago that sometimes there's nothing we can do and our own will die." He was on his feet now, "He can't save everyone and neither can you."

"Why not!?" She rose to face him faceplate to faceplate, the shining opaque surfaces betraying none of the emotion their voices reflected. "How many of us have you saved now, Me, Joseph, Carris? You know what I think? I think you weren't tasked for that demo op, you volunteered for it. I'll bet Jorge doesn't even know, otherwise, you two would've been on that convoy. You knew it'd be a target and that Jorge would've wanted to assist."

Nasir had gone silent, now he was the one caught. He felt no guilt about it, any other team assigned to their mission would've been dead anyways, it was six one way, half dozen the other. He had told the base commander that the Covenant would wipe out a target as large as the convoy but that multiple smaller units could slip through, needless to say, his opinions fell on deaf ears.

"You've never left any of us behind. Why the hell would you expect us to?"

Nasir's tone softened, "Because even John wrote off Sam."

That said it all, even blue team had written off one of their own during the Spartan's first mobilization in their armor. Samuel-034 had taken a covenant plasma round that had breached his armor during a boarding action, attempting to leave the ship would've killed him regardless. Nasir had given himself and Jorge similar odds when the Covenant cannons turned on their position. Alone, cut off, with thousands of kilometers away from the rest of their team and no support there was no other way to evaluate the situation.

"That was different. John had to leave him behind to save the rest of Blue."

"Do you really think coming for us wouldn't have put the rest of the team at risk? Do you think anything would've changed if you hadn't given up on us?"

The anger fell away from Daisy's voice, "We would've been worried about you, looking… distracted."

Nasir nodded, they both knew distractions in the field could be lethal. He knew she got it now, "You alright now Chief?"

Daisy responded by putting her fingers on his faceplate and swiping them in their characteristic smile. "I'll be alright when we're all off this rock in one piece. We might as well get a head start since Jorge has been awake for the last five minutes."

Nasir turned to his sitting teammate and cocked his head.

Jorge tilted his head up to look at his silent teammates. "I thought I was being discreet."

Daisy disconnected the private channel opening up her helmet mic, "You were, we're just done is all." She moved over to Jorge and offered him a hand up, which he accepted. "Come on, we might as well get moving early if you two are okay."

Nasir and Jorge both nodded to her while gathering their gear as Daisy made her way back out. A moment later Jorge's voice filled Nasir's ears, "Everything up?"

"I don't know; I think she had made her peace with us being dead, coming back might have shaken her."

"She stable though?"

"Are any of us?"

Jorge bumped him with his elbow as he made his way out. "C'mon, we're not home yet."

* * *

0800 HOURS LOCAL, JANUARY 1, 2531 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ EPSILON INDI SYSTEM, SECTOR BETA-4, PLANET HARVEST

"I can't believe you two think this is going to work."

"Work? Of course, it'll work. Now the question is, how effective it'll be?"

Carris just shook her head, Joseph and Nasir had salvaged a gauss cannon from a scrapped warthog and had the brilliant idea to set up an improvised firing position in one of the few relatively intact structures along the main road. Using a small power source, the two had managed to get the weapon working again and came up with a plan to ambush one of the Covenant's main routes.

Daisy's voice piped up over comms, "Incoming, pair of ghosts, wraith, maybe 3 plus squads of infantry, mostly grunts, multiple of elites. They're moving quick and hauling equipment, my guess is mortars."

That got Carris' attention, "They must be planning on setting up an artillery position."

"Well then let's disappoint them." Jorge had set up in a flanking position, still hauling around his heavy machine gun. He'd turned into an artist with the thing over the last year and had even named the thing.

Nasir came hauling down the road before sliding into cover at the foot of Joseph's building. "Charges set. ETA?"

"One minute, Joseph you sure that gun is going to hold out?"

"…For a few round at least."

Joseph's uncertainty hung in the air for a moment before Daisy responded, "Fine, take the wraith."

Carris could almost hear Joseph smile at that. "Nasir, you ready?" The only response she got was a green wink of his acknowledgment light, and it was all she needed as she shouldered her rifle.

She saw the first ghost rounded the corner followed by its pair, they were creeping along keeping slow enough to match pace with the larger tank that followed them a moment later.

Time began to crawl as the column moved down the road. Carris saw Daisy hold her acknowledgment light amber and she tensed. The column got within 100 yards of Joseph's position and Daisy's light started blinking green.

Flashbang and smoke grenades went off along the road coating half the column in a haze. The ghosts tried to accelerate to find their targets but were halted as the first was turned into a flaming barricade by Nasir's jackhammer missile trapping the second on the street.

At the same second the unmistakable sound of a gauss cannon was heard as the round split the smoke around the wraith when it struck its turret gunner. As the rest of the team opened up on the infantry a second round came thundering down impacting the wraith and damaging its drive causing it to drag one side of the vehicle against the ruined pavement.

"Weapon jam!"

Carris was in motion before she realized it, breaking from cover and sprinting toward the crippled tank. She watched the infantry attempt to react to Jorge and Daisy, too distracted to target one more figure in the smoke. She leapt and her armor carried her clear onto the tank as she grabbed onto the lip of the turret ring stabilizing herself before lobbing a grenade down into the tank. A sudden lurch of from the wraith attempting to take aim at the source of the gauss fire threw her clear before the grenade went off triggering secondary explosions and turning the covenant vehicle into a ball of blue fire.

A second flash caught Carris' attention as she recovered from her fall and chunks of covenant vehicle armor pinged off her armor. "Intact?" Joseph called over to her as she found her rifle amongst the shrapnel and winked her acknowledgment light green before moving to use the tank wreckage for cover.

The rest of the column was in disarray after losing their armor. She could hear Jorge's heavy machine gun pushing the last of the grunts toward Daisy's killbox. Carris swung around the tank sweeping for targets in the smoke that still filled the road. She was soon joined by Joseph and Nasir, the former having left his overwatch position as soon as the gauss cannon jammed, the latter after the second outrider went out in a ball of fire. One of the remaining grunts spotted her in the smoke and immediately turned and primed a pair of plasma grenades. Carris didn't even allow him two steps before sweeping him with fire.

The explosion that followed cleared the remaining smoke revealing the results of the ambush. Carnage was left like a trail behind the wreckage of the wraith, the sight of which apparently provoked a comment from Nasir, "… Jorge, did you bother leaving any for us?"

"Well-"

Jorge found himself cut off by a heavy explosion that immediately drove the team into cover positions off the road, flashing their acknowledgment lights green-amber-green, responding and ready.

The sound of weapons fire could be heard faint in the distance but was soon drowned out by the voice in their ears. "Any Sierra units on this channel this is Alpha-Six Actual, please respond."

Daisy told the rest of them to wait by flashing her amber light twice. This was in the clear and they were exposed and alone in their sector, not a good combination.

"I say again, any Sierra units on this channel this is Alpha-Six Actual. I am suspending all communications protocol, please respond."

Daisy answered, "This is Sierra-023 go ahead sir."

"Sierra-023 Alpha-Six is under heavy assault and we just lost contact with Delta-One and Gamma-Four, assuming Covenant jamming. We need you to reinforce what you can."

Nasir flashed amber-amber-red, clarification. Carris wanted to know too, how were five Spartans supposed to hold three sectors.

"Roger sir, Beta is still active, are we pulling out?"

"No choice Sierra-023, you're all that's left out there."

"Roger sir, Gold Team is on it. Sierra-023 out."

Daisy turned to the rest of the team, "Carris, Joseph you two head for Alpha. Jorge, Nasir Delta."

Nasir cocked his head at her, "You headed to Gamma solo?"

Daisy nodded, "We last had contact with Keiichi there, I'm betting he's still holding there."

Daisy's orders hung in the air a moment, Spartans or not cutting out on their own always felt wrong. Gold Team wasn't like Blue, Red, or even Green Teams, they were far less stable. Carris' recovery, the adopting of Daisy and Joseph, all this and more had turned them from a squad into something else, they had all been alone at one point or another and now they hated ever going back to it.

Still, these were orders, and the team nodded at Daisy in acknowledgment before moving out. Carris noticed Daisy's silent stillness for a few moments after, mimicked by Nasir, the two shared a look before he and Jorge started off for Delta. Joseph and Carris passed close enough to her to tap Daisy's pauldron, the gesture said enough and Daisy nodded in return before she headed off herself.

Carris stopped and stood there watching her team's IFF tags on her HUD fade into the distance before they disappeared. She turned to find that Joseph had stopped as well and was watching her. They stood in silence knowing exactly what was going through the other's minds, they were standing on the brink of something and neither of them liked where things were headed.

* * *

1242 HOURS, JANUARY 2, 2531 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ EPSILON INDI SYSTEM, SECTOR ALPHA-6, PLANET HARVEST

"Cook him!"

Joseph let loose a charged shot from the Covenant pistol striking the elite square in the chest collapsing its shields and knocking it back a step. Almost simultaneously Carris let off a burst from her rifle catching the alien in the head and tipping him over onto its back, dead.

Both of them kept moving, Joseph grabbing the fallen elite's rifle as they advanced. Carris squeezed her trigger making an ugly mess of a jackal's arm sending it sprawling, another squeeze did the same to its head. Target rich environment didn't begin to cover the situation. Since the Assault's beginning yesterday the covenant had thrown everything they had against the UNSC's remaining positions and Alpha-6 was barely holding.

She rammed her last mag home before opening fire on another elite driving him into cover. She was so focused on the targets in front of her Joseph had to grab her arm, throwing his weight into swinging her around a ruined wall just as an assault cannon round flew past her and struck another wall further back sending concrete shrapnel everywhere. She replanted her feet and slung a grenade around the corner before they pulled back at full pace as another cannon round demolished the wall they had been behind.

Unfortunately, in their haste, they fell right into another Covenant squad. Joseph tackled the elite dropping him as Carris planted her boot squarely into the face of a grunt before swinging around and dropping a pair of its friends. Joseph wasn't on the ground long before shifting into the mount and bringing his fist down with everything he had into the larger alien's head. A Spartan in armor was capable of shattering concrete, an elite's skull yielded far more easily.

Carris dropping her now empty rifle and grabbing the elite's carbine before the sound of the hunters following them got the pair moving again. A sudden voice breaking over an open comm channel, "Any UNSC assets on the ground in Alpha Sector this is Weasel-21, please respond."

"Weasel-21 this is Sierra-137 go ahead!"

"Amp your IFF markers Sierra, very close air support imminent."

"Sooner rather than later Weasel!" Joseph replied before vaulting through a window into a half standing building and taking position to cover Carris as she followed suit.

Carris' pulse spiked as she and Joseph powered up their IFF markers. The first thing they saw was another elite who had apparently outpaced the hunters enter the clear and end up burned down by the Spartans weapons fire. Their triumph lasted only a moment as the blue armored giants caught up plowing through rubble and taking aim at their cover.

Carris dove further into the ruins allowing the wall to absorb the impact. Joseph though moved a half second too slow and was thrown across the room impacting on the far wall. She scrambled to Joseph hauling him further into the rubble expecting the second shot, but it never came.

Autocannon rounds rained down like an angry storm churning the street into a churning mess of glass, concrete, and metal. The hunters didn't even have a chance to react before being turned into confetti by the three Sparrowhawks strafing above. Carris was still holding her breath when Weasel's voice came over comms again. "Sorry bout the wait Sierra, you intact?"

She helped Joseph to his feet and they both checked their armor. She waited for him to flash his light green before answering. "We're up, Weasel. Thought the covenant owned the skies, where'd you come from?"

"UNSC Prophecy Sierra, you can relax now, the cavalry's here."

* * *

1820 HOURS LOCAL, JANUARY 21, 2531 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ EPSILON INDI SYSTEM, ANCHOR BASE, PLANET HARVEST

Carris sat in the shade, leaning against the wheel of the warthog parked next to the armory, attempting to relax. Reinforcements had come down from orbit, the Prophecy had driven off the Covenant forces in orbit leaving just ground forces to deal with and reinforcements were inbound. What's more Blue Team had been on board the Prophecy and had reinforced Delta and the other side of Alpha and were now running offense against Covenant forces. She didn't typically like sitting ops out but after the last few years stuck on this rock she was fine taking a couple hours here and there to recover every few days now.

Joseph tapped the side of the warthog over her head with one of the trays he carried before handing it down to her. Warm chow, no direct fire or artillery, and the rest of Gold Team had been recalled for a rotation down, it was almost like their days on Reach.

Seeing a pelican incoming she finished what was left on her tray. Standing up and grabbing her helmet from the seat of the warthog she motioned to Joseph who inhaled what was left on his own tray and joined her. Her intuition wasn't wrong, meeting them halfway was Jorge, Nasir, Kelly, and John, but she could tell something was off as soon as she saw them. Nasir simply passed her and Joseph not even acknowledging his teammates, and when she tried to follow Jorge stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

John and Kelly both nodded to Jorge before moving off on their own while Carris turned back to face the Spartan restraining her.

Jorge reached up and pulled a pair of dog tags off from around his neck carefully handing them to Carris. Taking them from her teammate she held them gently as if they would break just by holding them. She knew what this was, she knew who's these were, and still reading it hit her like an artillery shell.

DAISY

S-023 O POS

NAVSPECWEP

SPARTAN-II / GOLD

There it was, first Sam now Daisy. With her thoughts whirling it took her a moment to notice both tags weren't Daisy's. Separating them with her thumb she found herself confused. The second tag wasn't one of theirs, it was a marine's and she found herself trying to place the name before it hit her. Ralph, it had to be 103, she'd heard rumors that he'd been 'decommissioned'. Her head snapped up to meet Jorge's faceplate but she couldn't get the question out.

Jorge nodded confirming her fears, "John found her at their evac point after Gamma-4 fell. He found Ralph in the pelican sent to for pickup."

Joseph had stepped up and slowly took the tags from Carris' hand closing his fist around them and drawing them to his chest. Joseph had been close to both of them throughout training and they were the only survivors of their escape attempt.

"So what now?" Carris was jolted from her thoughts by Joseph's voice.

It was Nasir who answered over TEAMCOM, "Now we head for Utgard." The three of them turned to see Nasir approaching them carrying a pair of duffels which he dropped in front of them. "We're going back on the offensive."

They hesitated for a moment before Nasir dropped his field case and began loading it with ammunition from one of the duffels. Jorge did the same followed by Joseph and Carris all passing equipment around, this wasn't something they were going to fight. Nasir had the right idea, there would be no grief here, no hesitation. They needed to move, to fight, to visit what they were upon others.

Jorge broke the silence, "Nas, you okay?"

The other three stopped and let the question hang for a moment before Nasir responded, "No." He looked to Joseph then Carris before finishing loading his SAW. "But I will be."

* * *

Okay so now for a bit of notation since I didn't stick anything on the last one (I'll go back and edit that later)

For anyone wondering why Gold Team seems closer to a Spartan III team than a II one it's because they're kind of the damaged goods team. Daisy and Joseph are technically deserters, Carris killed a trainer when she was 10 and had a habit of injuring other children before being recruited, Jorge has shown that he is no where near detached enough to avoid the results of the combat he endures, and Nasir has his own personal damage. These 5 are not Blue Team, hell they're not even Grey or Black who have much looser team dynamics. They also did not actually form a cohesive team until after they were augmented. Joseph, Ralph, and Daisy's teammates (at least that's who I figured they were) killed themselves after finding their flash clones, and I figured Jorge and Nasir's teammates were among those who died (or were reported dead). There's also the point that the Spartan IIs at this point are only 20 years old and _relatively_ young compared to what we see out of the Spartans 22 years later in Halo 1-5 and Reach. Also the reported "sociopathic tendencies" referenced in H4, seem to be remarking about interacting with outside individuals and not the other Spartans.

Timeline issues, if you didn't figure it out Gold Team was part of the Harvest Campaign from late 2526 through the end in 2531. To give you an idea of the what that means, Blue and Red Teams were only on Harvest in 2531, Spartan Teams prior to the end of Harvest were used in strike operations rather than extended campaigns. In this story Gold Team stands as the first test of using Spartans in extended operations alongside other UNSC forces. At the end of the campaign, Gold Team has been through almost 5 years of constant combat as well as witnessed and in some cases survived the glassing of large areas of Harvest.

Daisy's death is reported as early 2531, and since Blue Team was assigned other ops in 2530 I gathered that they came in system on board the Prophecy which arrived in system either late December 2530 or January 1-2 2531 since John-117 is seen standing over Daisy's body soon after her death.

Other bit, cannon sources state that the Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon (Fuel Rod Gun) was first encountered by UNSC forces in 2531, I have it here in 2530 since I figure the cannon date states when personnel first documented encounters with the weapon and/or like most things about the Spartan's any reports filed by them are not counted due to their classification.

Dramatis Personae introduced

Gold Team

Daisy-023, originally from Halo: Legends, Homecomming.

Jorge-052, originally from Halo: Reach

Carris-137, originally referenced in Halsey's journal accompanying Halo: Reach special editions.

Blue Team

John-117, We all know our friendly neighborhood Chief.

Kelly-087, our favorite rabbit.

Edit: 9 August 2017, Grammarly check, tweaked one instance of overlapping serial number.


	4. Tarnished

**Tarnished**

0215 HOURS, MAY 22, 2532 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ NU SECUNDUS VIRGINIS SYSTEM, OPERATIONAL AREA EPSILON, PLANET ASTRAEA

"Breaker-one, Front door looks clear."

"Breaker-three, same from the back."

"Gold, motor pool, three targets no visible arms…. Your show Breaker, what's the call?" Nasir laid in the shadows a hundred meters away from the compound he was watching, now waiting for a response from Breaker-Actual.

"Gold, Actual can you clear the pool before they get wind of you?" Breaker-Actual's voice had that heavy twang of an accent that mostly covered up any underlying emotions that Nasir could hear.

"Negative Actual." He shifted slowly slinging his DMR on his back's mag clamp and bringing up an M7S. Speed and silence wasn't his personal forte but, like all Spartans, he could manage. "I can down them quiet but someone's going to notice the noise when they hit the floor or if a round hits a wall."

"Good enough Gold, take then hold for Breaker 2 and 4 to take position. On your count Gold."

"Wilco Actual." Nasir began slowly crawling out of the tree line to edge of the shadows it cast before moving into a crouch and digging his right foot in. He waited for the three hostiles he could see to turn their heads away. It only was only for a moment but that's all he needed. He may not have been as fast as Kelly but he was fast, in only a few seconds he'd already moved close enough to take aim with his M7. A cough from the silenced weapon dropped the first target, a second cough caught the second as he turned in shock. By the time the third target even knew what was happening Nasir was already at arm's length grabbing the third into a chokehold with such force that the Spartan could feel the vertebrae shatter. Nasir lowered the dead man to the ground and slid him between a pair of vehicles, quickly grabbing the other two bodies and doing the same. "Actual, Gold. Pool is clear." Nasir kept his eye on his motion tracker as he made his way to the main building's entrance waiting to hear from the rest of the team.

He started counting waiting for Breaker two and four to get into position when his adrenaline spiked. Two gunshots across the compound sounded immediately followed by Actual Screaming into the channel. "Move in, move in!"

Nasir kicked the door in throwing it off its hinges and straight into a hostile attempting to get to the motor pool. The room that had contained three insurgents now only held two, the first buried under the door. He sprayed the other two down before shifting the door off the first one and emptying the last 3 rounds into the prone, formerly hostile's head. Quickly reloading he made his way through the building, his motion tracker barely picked up anything and he could hear why. The enemy had engaged the rest of the teams on the other side of the compound and the building was emptying out away from him.

Life rarely got this good, targets continued moving in ones and twos not realizing that he was there and never getting the chance to sound a second alarm as he made short work of each group he found. Securing a fallen hostile's radio on his armor finally let him know that the enemy had noticed the absence of so many. A moment later a voice silenced all chatter on their COM, someone was trying to rally the broken defenders. Nasir knew the target was close and began sweeping up to the second floor making for where Breaker-1 had identified as the compound's command post.

"Where the hell are you Gold?!" Actual's voice rang in his ear. Nasir wasn't sure if it was frustration, anger or just adrenaline in her voice but regardless apparently his presence was missed.

Moving around a corner catching a pair of hostiles face to face he grabbed the first by the throat crushing it and holding him fast as he raked the other with his submachinegun. Dropping the held man, he finally responded, "Actual, Gold. Am inside central building moving to CP."

Actual shouted something else but he missed it when he heard the enemy officer's voice over their COM again, but this time it was echoed from nearby. He moved slowly along the wall to where he could hear the target's voice. Pulling a flashbang from his webbing he cooked it for two seconds before lobbing it into the next room. Hearing the screams, he was in motion again swinging around the entry. Three coughs from his M7 blew out the knees of all three men in the room sending them crumbling to the floor, a brutal if not inelegant solution to his situation. Quickly policing the sidearms from each of the men, who were far too distracted by the fresh wounds to resist, he examined the insignia on each of their collars and smiled. The target was here, Major Benjamin Miller, but that wasn't what was surprising. Colonel Alexander Harris, the UNSC had been after him for years, bad luck for the man then.

"You bastard!" The colonel screamed at him, still holding his knee.

Nasir squatted down to face the prone man, "Sir will you order your men to stand down?" Likely a vain gesture but one that was worth offering.

The Colonel screwed up his face and spit into the Spartan's visor. Nasir wiped it off before raising his M7 up. "Wrong answer sir." Bringing the butt of the weapon down against the man's forehead rendering him unconscious. He turned to face the Major who was now mewling in pain. "Same offer sir, order your men to stand down."

This time the offer had the desired response, the insurrectionist officer nodded vigorously and Nasir unhooked his captured radio and lowered it to the Major's face and keyed it. "All forces this is Major Miller, stand down; I say again stand down!"

A response came back over the COM barely audible with the gunfire in the background, "Sir we are engaged with UNSC personnel, cannot disengage!"

Nasir leaned in a millimeter tapping the radio with the suppressor of his M7 prompting a loud gulp from the Major before he keyed the radio again. "I am not ordering you to disengage soldier, I am ordering all forces to stand down and surrender arms to UNSC forces. We are surrounded and engaged with Spartans… this isn't one we can win son."

The com went quiet before a response came, "I understand sir." The other voice had deadpanned and Nasir heard the weapons fire slowly fade and shouts to drop weapons and lay on the ground were given.

Nasir now keyed his own COM as he began to zip tie the Major's hands behind his back and tourniquet his wounded leg and repeating this with the other two in the room. "Actual, Gold. Target secured, additional target acquired."

"Gold, Actual. What the hell happened up there?" Now that was just plain anger he thought, something often expressed at the Spartan's operational habits these days.

"Actual, Gold. I convinced the Major to order his men to surrender."

"Convinced Gold?"

"Debrief when evac gets here Actual.' Nasir looked down at the Colonel and Major. Just another Op, such as it was.

* * *

"What the hell was that son?" Actual tore her helmet off shoving it against Nasir's chest as soon as he set foot off the pelican. It was probably intended to be intimidating, and likely would've worked on a Marine or ODST, she was fairly imposing, but Nasir wasn't moved.

Looking down at her he pulled off his own helmet staring at her keeping his face locked and using that measured tone Spartan's used when dealing with standard military. "I carried out the OP Gunny."

The Gunnery Sergeant stopped a half beat, her face betraying a hint of shock for a half second before she took back on her angered expression. "'Carried out the OP'? You left us out there!" She attempted to shove him back by pressing her helmet harder into his chest and still got no result.

"Your squads had it in hand, and I cleared the building's interior cutting off reinforcements. While securing our target, a superior target, and getting them to order the rest of the innies to surrender." Nasir furrowed his brow and gently took hold of her helmet before sliding it off his chest, his enhanced strength rendering her attempts to hold it still in vain.

She gave in pulling her helmet back to her side. "You went off COM and ignored orders!"

"My orders were to complete the operation, I did just that _Gunny_." He emphasized the nicknamed rank to hammer home that they were equal rank.

" _Boy_ I don't care what your orders _were_ , I've been doing this for forty years, I will not be ignored on an operation by some kid tucked in fancy armor!" She took a step back crossing her arms. Despite her movement, she looked like she was the one holding firm.

While his augments did accelerate his body's growth, the Spartan IIs had noticed the aging hadn't reached their faces. This meant Nasir was attempting to argue with a Marine Recon Gunnery Sergeant with 40 years of service all while appearing to be no older than his 21 years simply wrapped in MJOLNIR armor. Mulling this over he decided to take the path of least resistance and eased his expression giving the Marine the win in front of her team. "Igen, igen Megvagy..." _Yeah, yeah I got you_.

"You better." The Gunnery Sergeant relaxed seemingly understanding him loud and clear and taking her victory. She still eyed Nasir carefully mulling something over. "Where on Reach were you boy?"

He cocked his head at her, "Gunnery Sergeant?"

"I know that accent, hol voltál állomásozó?" _Where were you stationed_? Though her natural twang butchered the words, he could hear it clear as day. Anyone trained on Reach for any length of time picked up some native 'dog Hungarian' a butchered form of the planet's local dialect. Granted Nasir had picked up a good deal more than most from his years with Jorge, he still carried the bad grammar that was common amongst the Reach instructors.

Origins, ages, and details of his training were deeply classified but there were details that were common knowledge or had been leaked. There were too many personnel involved in their training to keep completely silent. Most Spartans just kept locked up, but some like Kurt and Jorge had a list of answers to deflect probing questions, a trait Nasir had picked up as well. "Viery Highlands."

"Hm, figured." She looked as if she had something more before another marine tapped her arm cutting her off.

"Gunny, command's trying to raise ya."

"Great." She shook her head before pulling her helmet back on before turning away to deal with this new distraction.

Nasir watched the Marines mull about the outpost as he made his way to the tent containing the small outpost's improvised ammo dump. This unit was unusual, he had never served alongside Marine special forces aside from the ODSTs, but they still weren't what he expected. They lacked the cocky arrogance of ODSTs but still maintained the characteristic aloofness around other UNSC personnel. They were certainly a step up from anyone he'd served alongside short of his fellow Spartans. The similarity was only enforced by their equipment as well as how some of them addressed each other by first name when alone. They weren't wearing the newer M52B battle dress uniform that the Marines had picked up last year, instead, their armor appeared to be a cross between classical plate and modern body armor. The fact that the plates were painted olive and that their helmets were full encompassing with polarized visors only added to their similarities with the Spartans.

Still, Breaker-Actual's comments about his accent stuck with him. The only Marines he knew that trained long term enough on Reach were the ODSTs, and it was fairly rare for them to shift back to normal operations. Once an ODST, always an ODST. Something about her just caught him off, not wrong though. In truth, these troops were growing on him. Gold team was currently split with all four of them assigned to a separate platoon, each assigned to anti-insurgent operations here on Astraea. Having worked with these Marines over this campaign he'd started trusting some of them, even relying on them rather than treating them as backup, like so many Spartans did. That attitude wasn't arrogance, just fact. Typically, UNSC personnel just couldn't keep up, but these ones, they were something else.

He reached the ammo dump and picked through grabbing replacing his spent magazines and grabbing a few extra grenades and loading packets of C-12 explosives into a bag. The next engagement would likely be a normal operation compared to the capture one they had just finished. After all, it wasn't as if there were any higher ranked insurgents in the system. He hated these operations, didn't these people realize that the Covenant was glassing planets? If they didn't all pull together, the fanatic aliens would pick them apart piece by piece. Jorge often went on to him about his opinions on colonial self-rule under the UEG, but Nasir knew that he hated the insurgency with a passion. This whole campaign had to just break the big guy's heart.

"You going to leave some for the rest of us?"

Nasir slowly turned to the sudden voice. Whoever this was had just snuck up on him, and that, was no mean feat. Looking down at the Marine he took a step to the side allowing her to pass. She didn't move, instead staring at Nasir with a hard set of eyes. In the two months that he'd been with them, there had been little interaction outside of operations and communication even typically flowed through Breaker-Actual since he was merely attached and not technically under the same command as they were. He realized she was one of the unit's recon elements from her armor's field marking. No wonder he didn't recognize her.

"So just what are you?"

Nasir found himself caught off guard for the second time today. Most UNSC personnel looked at Spartans with a certain level of fear, stemming from the unknown. Those that were aware of them, their reputation, or who had seen them in action, however, saw them as heroes and revered them to a certain extent. The ODSTs had their rivalry which bordered on hatred in the worst cases but still. This was something new. "I'm a Spartan." The only answer he knew to give to such a question.

"That's a title, not a what." Her voice now carried a hint of annoyance.

"I don't understand what you mean Staff Sergeant."

Her tone remained fairly even, "I mean, what did they do to you?"

His brow furrowed slightly, there it was. That was the line crossed from friendly inquisitiveness, into information gathering. "That's classified Staff Sergeant."

"Hrm, figures." She moved past him finally digging through the resupply crates before addressing him again though she didn't face him. "Heard Gladys dressing you down, I don't know why she was so pissed at you though. Got the job done well enough."

He didn't answer, though he did relax his expression back to the typical impassive calm. This was a tricky bit, engaging her in this line would be undermining Actual's authority so it was simpler to let it pass.

"Hey Gilly, you find any demo in there?" The new voice belonged to another Marine, Staff Sergeant Lee, now entering the tent, he had a worn face with a genuine warmth in his expression that drained from him the instant he caught sight of Nasir.

"Nah, I think this guy got the last of it." She thumbed to Nasir before moving to Lee's side. His own gaze only wavered from the Spartan when Gilly stood next to him.

Nasir tossed the satchel charge to Lee before putting his helmet back on. He knew plenty of people became unnerved when looking at the Spartans bare faces. The pale, bordering on translucent skin, shining eyes and young complexions tended to seem unnatural to outsiders.

Lee caught the package and secured it before motioning outside. "Gladys wants us outside, apparently command has another run for us."

Gilly nodded and left the tent first. Lee stood there for a moment before looking to Nasir, then sliding his own helmet on and following her. Nasir didn't understand Lee's issue with him and that complicated things. Lee was one of the few that Nasir should've been able to count on in the field were it not for his attitude. He banished these thoughts before leaving the tent, seeing Actual speaking with Lee, Gilly, and another Marine he knew they called Cas. As he approached them Actual looked to him.

"You up for another run boy?"

He nodded, "If you got another target Gunny."

"We got plenty."

* * *

The objective area was a corporate mining settlement that had been abandoned when surveys had turned out wrong and driven the company under. Unfortunately, this left a perfect base of operations for anyone willing to claim it. The two story prefab buildings laid out over ten square kilometers had been mostly emptied of anything that could be salvaged but plenty had been left behind, unclaimed due to the distance between the settlement and any other colonial centers. Of course, this meant that the local Insurrection had likely moved in and required eviction. Of course, there wasn't any hard intel proving that it wasn't just colonial squatters trying to establish a new settlement, so the higher ups had decided to have someone take a firsthand look.

The team had taken up a vantage point a kilometer from the southeast corner of the settlement, attempting to reconnoiter the objective, not that it was going well.

"Damn permacrete." Gilly swore under her breath, "I still got nothing on thermal." The construction materials provided excellent durability and insulation but wreaked havoc with thermal and EM emissions.

Lee sighed "Guess we're going to have to take things close." He keyed his COM, "We got nothing from here. Keeping overwatch." A pair of clicks answered his message and before long he could spot Casales moving cover to cover toward the dark buildings. He was perturbed when he realized that there was no sign of Casales' partner. Lee keyed his COM, "Gold you in motion?" his voice had an edge to it, he didn't like the cavalier attitude this _Spartan_ kept exhibiting. He was about to call out again when he spotted a tiny pair of flashes coming from the third floor of the building directly ahead of Casales.

Gilly whistled low, looking up from her rifle sight. "Damn, never even saw him move, kid's good."

Lee watched as Casales made it to the building and took position on its outer corner and signaled them to move up. It didn't take long for the three to meet up still keeping their eyes open despite the total lack of any sign of the enemy. Scanning back and forth Lee tapped Casales' shoulder getting his attention, "Where is he?"

Two clicks sounded, but not in Lee's ear. He spun his head to find the source and found Nasir had tapped on the inside of a plastic window in response to his question. Gilly snickered at the fact that Lee had been caught off guard by the half ton soldier which only irritated Lee further.

Gilly waved Nasir on and the three marines moved around the corner slowly sweeping the street as they advanced. This was a block by block search, and while everything seemed quiet, these were the usual conditions for everything to go wrong. As they made their way in a pair of clicks over their COM caused them to halt and take cover. They looked for the source and saw the Spartan waving them up to the corner of an intersection. As they stacked up behind him Gilly spoke up, "What's up?"

"Not sure." Nasir slowly peered around the corner, "Too quiet." He readied his weapon setting up to cover the corner.

Gilly nodded before signaling to the others and tapping Nasir on the shoulder. The Spartan swung his weapon out and Gilly broke and sprinted across the wide street before taking position on the opposite corner. Nasir immediately waved Casales across. Something didn't set right with the Spartan, no movement, no noise, but that wasn't the problem. He tightened his grip on his weapon as Lee started across.

When he was about midway Lee felt like he was struck by a truck from behind as he was propelled across the street into cover. He could practically hear the bang against his armor but there was a second bang that followed, a powerful crack that echoed in the empty street. As he landed he could hear the telltale sound of automatic weapons fire. Ambush.

Gilly watched Lee fly right for them behind the corner but her attention snapped to the far end of the street when she heard the crack of a high powered round striking the road past them. She immediately started putting suppressing fire down range as Casales knelt behind her doing the same. What came next was madness. She'd been working with the Spartan for a while now but it was all quick work and she'd never actually had eyes on him in action. Nasir was sprinting straight for the weapons flashes now erupting from the far building, the speed of it didn't seem real.

"What the hell!?" Casales watched as the Spartan vaulted into the second story window and listened as the screaming started. Weapons fire against them ceased and Lee recovered tagging him on the shoulder as he recovered and began to move up.

Nasir felt the innie crumple beneath the weight of his armor as he cleared over the window sill. The sheer shock of seeing the armored giant jump right into the second floor and the half second of hesitation was all he needed. He finished the roll to his feet and immediately struck the closest hostile with his palm directly to his nose sending him reeling as a second target's chest erupted from a burst of M7 fire. The final hostile finally attempted to fire on Nasir but the burst went wide as the Spartan lunged for him shoving his rifle away before ending him with an armored elbow. Nasir scanned the room once more before putting a single round into each of the two men he'd struck heads' for good measure. With the enemy fire silenced they could now hear shouting, this was more than a sorry excuse for an ambush suddenly floodlights began to open up tearing away the shadows concealing their team and illuminating the appearance of more hostile starting to open fire.

Casales lobbed a smoke grenade trying to create some concealment while Gilly and Lee moved up into the smoke, their armor's image enhancement systems cutting through the haze. Nasir bailed out of the building's window joining Casales in putting down fire as the other two Marines made the push before holding position letting him and Casales bound up. At the second position, the insurrectionists seemed to be falling back and that was when they spotted _it_.

Coming out of a vehicle storage shed came a HRUNTING Mark III Exoskeleton, a Cyclops! Nasir's mind raced, this wasn't Innie standard equipment and this whole situation was quickly spiraling out of Marine territory. His perception began to speed up the world slowed down as he reached for a grenade, he needed to get. The Marines to clear out before this thing caught one of them.

"Covering fire!" It was Lee's voice and Nasir halted mid-reach, instead grabbed his rifle slinging his M7 and started throwing rounds at the cyclops' cockpit. It didn't take long before the pinpoint fire drew its attention on him. He didn't wait for it to round on him ducking into the nearest building. He saw a pair of heavy machine guns rigged to its right arm before it opened up chewing the building's façade tearing right through the permacrete and plastic driving Nasir up the block right through the buildings toward the cyclops. It was then he saw Lee making a beeline through the enemies' suppressing fire right at the cyclops' flank. He spotted the satchel charge in Lee's hands, only one thought ran through Nasir's mind, this is going to get messy.

Lee was suddenly very thankful he brought the charge. The senior chief had the exoskeleton's attention and Gilly and Cas had the innies' attention… for the most part. He thanked heaven above for whoever tagged their unit with the test order for this new armor as he barely felt a round deflect across his shoulder. Lee pulled the detonator and let fly with the satchel charge, thanking his luck when the strap caught part of the cyclops' armor, before pivoting and making a break for a building on the opposite side of the street from Nasir. He dove into cover and screamed over the COM, "Down!"

The entire team jumped deeper into buildings, a C-12 damage pack typically had enough power to blow clear through a capital ship's armor, the exoskeleton didn't stand a chance, neither did the first meter of the buildings on either side of the street or any hostile starting out of cover. The team didn't waste the shock and awe as Nasir and Casales pushed up the street sweeping fire with their M7s, Lee and Gilly followed right behind. Targets were falling and they were retreating into the storage shed.

"Hey, we got something in here." Casales had kicked in a door and was now looking down a set of stairs, "Looks like our friends have been busy."

Lee stacked behind Casales before they both heard someone hit the ground. Turning about they saw Gilly on her knee resting against the wall, he chest plate cracked and she was missing her weapon. Nasir took a knee next to her examining her armor before getting up and moving to the door and looking at Casales, "Sergeant stay up here, watch our backs."

Casales nodded as Nasir took his place with Lee stacked behind him. They moved slowly down the stairs advancing cautiously but as they neared the lower floor the entire facility shook with a thud and what few lights there were flickered. Nasir immediately surged forward blowing through the door at the bottom. The area under the shed had been excavated, it was a full command and control center, arsenal, a myriad of doors but wisps of dust gave away what had happened. Nasir heard Casales in his ear saying he had a target and was dealing with it.

Nasir and Lee edged up on the target room, the Spartan signaled Lee to move to another entrance, both keeping a silent count. They hit the room at the same time and nearly froze at what they saw. A kid was standing there alone, terrified, and not of them. The room appeared to be an armory and the Innie was holding a detonator. Nasir trained his weapon on her and made the call.

Click.

The noise seemed to ring in his ears the world slowing down even further, misfire. He changed step trying to stop the girl from blowing them all to hell. No chance to get away, there was enough ordinance there to take out a city block. Too little, too late, he knew that. She unlocked the safety and depressed the trigger.

Click… Nothing happened.

Confusion spread across her face before the Innie flung her hands up realizing what had happened, dropping the detonator and screamed "Wait! I-"

Bang… Her face broke and collapsed in as the back of her head was cast out in a flurry of bone shrapnel.

Nasir halted midstep and spun to face the shooter. There was Gilly, leaning on a doorframe behind him, barely standing, her breathing labored, and with her sidearm leveled at where the young girl's head used to be.

Lee ran over to her and got her arm over his shoulder before she collapsed. "Jeezus Gilly…" He slowly set her down against the wall before dropping his pack and started pulling her damaged armor plates off.

Nasir just stood there silent and unmoving staring at the body before him, struggling to wrap his head around what had just happened. He knew some forces had used child soldiers in the past but it wasn't something insurrectionists typically did. She couldn't have been older than twelve, what could drive the rebels to teach her to hate them so much, so young.

True, the Spartans had begun their training even earlier at seven and started active service at fourteen but they had never been taught to hate or fear their enemy. No, no it wasn't the same, insurrectionists were _willing_ to do things like this, the UNSC was _forced_ to create the Spartans. Spartans stood as the defenders of Earth and all her colonies. This is what he was born to do, this is what he was forged to stop.

"What the hell?" Lee finished with her armor and was now checking her for injuries. "She was trying to surrender."

She winced as Lee found her broken ribs. "Maybe… guess we'll never know." She pushed him away and began to reaffix her armor. "She was trying to blow us up, I wasn't going to give her a chance to try again."

Nasir paced to her offering a hand up which she accepted with a noticeable amount of pain. "Clean shot, you up Staff Sergeant?"

"I can fight."

He handed her his M7 along with the spare magazines before unslinging his rifle. "Good, we need to keep moving and scrub this place."

She cleared the loaned weapon's jam and reloaded it, nodding to him. "Lead the way Chief."

* * *

The thud turned out to be the insurrectionists blowing an escape tunnel, making a clean getaway. Nasir had called up hoping command could get a fix on where they would pop out but it was a wash. Orders came down to sweep the base and hold it down until intelligence could get there. This cell was far from average, senior commanders planetside, multiple stations, equipment like that cyclops, and this base excavated out of a former mine with tunnels reaching who knows how far. It only went to show how pervasive and dangerous the insurrectionists were.

Nasir now sat on their pelican watching Staff Sergeant Lee recheck his fellow Marine's ribs. Originally Nasir though she'd been hit by debris from the satchel charge. It turned out that even before that she'd been caught a round from the cyclops. She'd fought on after having half her ribs broken, Lee had moved faster than Nasir had ever seen anyone aside from the Spartan, something was off.

It hit him like lightning strike, the familiarity with Reach, ability, he knew who they were but he never imagined ever meeting them. "You're Spartans." He watched all three Marines freeze in place sharing looks.

There was a long pause before someone spoke up, oddly it was Casales who spoke up first, "You get briefed on us?"

Nasir pulled his helmet off looking each of them in their eyes in turn. "No, but there's too many pieces that fit." He'd picked up a fair bit of Intel over the years between Intel contacts and the general shady work he'd been a part of. The Spartans that had preceded them were only called that in background chat, they were part of something called ORION though no one knew anything more than that. He smiled slightly, "I was starting to think you didn't exist, that they just named us SPARTAN-IIs just to throw people off."

Casales drummed his fingers on the helmet sitting in his lap and returned the smile, "Figures you'd figure it out."

"Are all of you?"

Gilly shifted in her seat trying to stay comfortable despite her shattered chest. "Some of us, not all." She grimaced at a shudder of the pelican as it passed through some turbulence on its descent. "Us, Gunny, Morales and a few others in 2nd platoon."

Jorge had been assigned to 2nd platoon, he'd probably already figured it out. "So they made you on Reach too?"

And there it was, Lee gave Nasir a withering look that didn't even come close to affecting the armored giant. "We were _tweaked_ not _made_."

A slip of the tongue but not how Nasir would've expected himself to foul up. Made, that summed up how he came about, they started with a child and built on top until they achieved him. After that look from Lee, he decided not all of them were like Gilly and Breaker-Actual. He decided to let the subject lie.

The pelican set down and the ramp dropped, Nasir gave the Marines space to get their wounded comrade off the bird. He spotted the rest of Gold in the assembly area, best assumption, they were mustering out, no rest for the wicked. Jorge was the first to acknowledge Nasir with a swipe of his fingers across his faceplate before picking up his LMG. "Ready to move on?"

Nasir merely nodded, "Where they sending us next?"

Carris gave a subtle shrug, "No clue, but apparently, they're splitting us off from our new friends." She turned to watch the Marines around them pack up their gear. "The new armor almost makes them look like us."

Nasir broke away to head over to the Marines, "They are us."

Carris and Joseph straightened up looking at Nasir then to Jorge who just nodded and waved them off from any questions right then.

Walking up to Breaker-Actual Nasir he decided to keep his helmet off before getting her attention, "Gunnery Sergeant."

Breaker turned to face him a shadow of a scowl on her face. "Any reason you're bringing my people back all busted up?"

Nasir didn't let her stare phase him, "Well maybe if they didn't decide taking on a cyclops head on they'd be in better shape." He slackened his posture a bit, something that non-Spartans tended to appreciate. "That aside I have to commend them, they acted at Spartans." His voice naturally lowered to keep their conversation private.

Breaker's expression softened at that but still held an edge. "You new kids ain't so bad yourself." She clapped him on his shoulder, a reach even for her.

"They know where they're sending you guys next?"

Breaker sighed, "Probably skulking around Eridanus." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm getting too old for this."

Nasir gently tapped his fist on her shoulder. "Keep it up Gunny, it's all we can do." He turned to leave as she nodded and waved him off.

It was a bit surreal the difference between how spec ops looked at and acted around him compared to the much more typical reactions of the regular Marines now filling the FOB. He hoped one day he'd get to see more like them, he felt like there were too few Spartans these days, and their ranks were only thinning.

Looking to find Gold again he slipped his helmet back on opening up TEAMCOM, "Well got a ride out of here yet?"

"Yeah, and orders." Joseph chimed in, "Corvette to assembly then Jericho." He waved Nasir over to a pelican. "Looks like they're going to take a beating before we get there."

Nasir nodded, climbing the ramp with Joseph, "Then let's not keep them waiting."

Carris leaned forward to the pilots and knocked the inner hull twice and the co-pilot gave her the thumbs up as they started takeoff procedures. She took her seat before looking at Nasir, "You going to share now or are you going leave us in the dark. What was that all about back there."

Joseph sat next to her nodding, "Yeah sounds like you got a story to share."

Nasir looked to Jorge who nodded for him to start. Finally answering, "You guys ever wonder why we're SPARTAN-IIs?"

* * *

Notes

Sources say James James demobilized after the project was deactivated, none say how long after, could've been directly or could've been years later. Janissary was born 2535 data point 1. Point 2 is that Gilly is crazy, PTSD sufferers deal better and symptoms are slower to show when in active service than later, and it's doubtful James would've agreed to father a child with her if she was off her rocker. Data point 3 is that Avery Johnson (78) was in service for minimum 60 years showing that ORION soldiers could be stable far longer than normal.

I'm going with the idea that Gilly and James demobilized a few years before Janissary was born, leaving to start a family as Gilly's issues only first begin to manifest themselves. Gladys would follow soon after.

Logically speaking it doesn't make sense for anyone, special forces or not, to have intimate knowledge of the Spartan II program's augments or an opinion of them as 'not human' unless they had seen them in person. If James had demobilized in 2506 that would've meant, he was retired for decades before the Spartan IIs were even declassified. Even then the propaganda machine around them was so strong that there's no way he'd have such a negative view about them let alone have any understanding of what the IIs went through.

I have Gilly as far more stable here than she's portrayed elsewhere because I have firsthand experience with soldiers and how they hold together much better while in service than out. I've seen people who are solid as steel fall to pieces once there was no one left to fight.

Here we have Nasir as a Senior Chief Petty Officer and the rest of Gold as Chiefs. Daisy was a chief as early as 2531 which easily sits the rest of them at the same point later. In the US military there's a concept called seven in seven, it's reaching E-7 inside of 7 years of entering service. The Spartan-IIs were all promoted to E-5 as of 2525 just as US Army 18 series who routinely achieve the rank well in seven.

Honestly he's Senior Chief so when he's referred to its not _The Chief_ , it's just Senior Chief. Sometimes thematic flair is such a pain to work around.

Armor the Recon element is wearing is SPI Armor, or rather an early test run of it. I believe it was Kelly who had seen it before and considering that it wasn't hazardous to humans I figure someone had to field test it.

Lastly (until I think of something else I did odd) even in the original Halo Wars material it was mentioned that some cyclops' were decommissioned for use in cargo loading, construction, and demolition. It isn't too challenging to get your hands on a glorified fork lift.

Still going to try and get updates out more often but I'm finding my own post service issues challenging.

Dramatis Personae introduced:

GySgt Gladys Ashantia Swanson "Breaker-Actual" (Spartan I) (I Love Bees)

SSgt James Lee (Spartan I) (I Love Bees)

SSgt Gillian "Gilly" [maiden name unknown] (Spartan I) (I Love Bees)

Sgt Udo Casales (Spartan I) (OC)

Please read and review, I don't get better without outside input.

Also still looking for a regular Beta.

Edit: 9 August 2017, Grammarly run


	5. Change

**Change**

1400 HOURS, NOVEMBER 28, 2536 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM, ABOARD UNSC _WHAT YOU DARE_ , IN ORBIT OVER REACH

"You know if they're going to drag us all the way home the least they could let us do is visit."

Carris just stared at Jorge and shook her head. "Only you get this sentimental over this place."

Jorge chuckled a bit, "Oh and you wouldn't like to see the pillars again?" She clammed up at that, the team remembered how she spent hours at the Pillars of Loki after a particularly bad training accident.

Most of Gold Team had been recalled to Reach under less than clear circumstances only a week ago. Joseph had been detached and given separate orders leaving Jorge, Carris and Nasir now wondering just what was going on. Spartans had been recalled before, for resupply and refit, for medical treatment and evaluation, even to brief and assist intel assets. This time they had been given no duty, no details, which left them in the dark with little to do. Two days of armor maintenance, which thankfully they'd been allowed to keep, and basic drills which were about all they had room for aboard the cruiser. Now they'd been ordered to report to this briefing room, and once again left in the dark.

Nasir was simply staring at the door waiting for whoever had dragged them there. "Either of you getting a Section Three feeling here?"

Jorge nodded while Carris just flicked her green indicator. Section Three was the Office of Naval Intelligence's dirty tricks department, the same people who were responsible for SPARTAN-II and project MJOLNIR. Whatever was going on here didn't sit well with any of them. Reassignment was something typically handled in route to whatever posting they were needed at, briefings were typically handled on ground or stations where there was logistical and Intel staff. Here they were on a ship, in orbit over one of the most secure locations in the UNSC, half the ship marked off limits, and as far as they knew no ground traffic outside of a few pelicans. The ship wasn't here for repair or resupply, and it wasn't on a system or planetary patrol route. It may not have been a prowler but this ship was an ONI boat and it was here for them.

Suddenly the door opened and a door opened and in stepped a UNSC Army Colonel. All three Spartans snapped to attention now facing the room's latest occupant as he spoke, "At ease, soldiers."

Nasir was grateful Carris held her tongue although he was sure that behind her faceplate she had rolled her eyes at the Colonel. They were sailors after all but the misstep of protocol wasn't worth getting into a pissing match with an officer. The three of them relaxed and Nasir looked down at the man expectantly, he'd learned over the years that most service personnel were intimidated by his silence and since the Colonel had come to them it didn't require his report. It was a small staring match before the Colonel spoke, uncowed and unimpressed by the Spartans. "My name is Colonel Ackerson, and I have orders for each of you."

The phrase ' _each of you_ ' struck home and they glanced at each other as Ackerson handed each a data pad. Nasir spoke up, "Sir is Gold Team being dissolved?"

"For the time being yes. Each of you are being assigned to separate teams, Spartan-122 has already received his orders. Your new units are here waiting for you, follow me" Ackerson turned on his heel, leading them out of the room as they reviewed their orders.

Jorge caught it first, "Sir there are promotion orders here?"

Nasir scanned the documents again, they weren't addressed to him as a Senior Chief Petty Officer, they instead had him listed as a Warrant Officer.

Ackerson preempted his question speaking over his shoulder, "Yes all three of you have been promoted. You're not just another few NCOs running around, you're valuable experts in your field and it was deemed that you needed rank to reflect your position."

Nasir smiled a little at that, Spartans may not seek rank for prestige, privilege, or pay, but rank always helped them get around bureaucratic hurdles. ODSTs, armorers, supply sergeants, all individuals who often would take issue with Spartans and their procurement of equipment and materiel. They may still have to deal with commissioned officers but at least this was a step in the right direction. He went back to his orders and frowned despite the good news, this wasn't detached duty, this was permanent reassignment. "If I may ask sir, why is Gold Team being split up?"

As they entered an elevator Ackerson turned to face them, "We've reviewed over your team's performance and despite early issues, you've given exemplary results."

Now, this had all three of the confused. If their records weren't an issue then why reassign them. Carris spoke up doing her best to keep a hard edge from her voice. "If that's the case then why change things, sir?"

Ackerson continued on as the elevator opened, "NAVSPECWAR has decided to try using you to augment other units."

Jorge popped in, "Due respect sir but they've tried using independent Spartans as force multipliers for normal units in the past, didn't work nearly as well."

Ackerson stopped in front of a door and keyed in a code on its locking pad, "Who said anything about _normal_ units?"

"Piros hó…" Jorge got out though Nasir didn't know if it was on TEAMCOM or out loud. Ackerson's conceited look may have just as well as been at the fact that all three Spartans had just stopped dead at the sight before them. Spartans, but not, Spartans knew each other for years before the armor and over a decade after it, faces were immaterial to identification, they could tell each other from their mannerisms and subtle traits. These weren't their comrades, builds wrong, too small, armor was too new, no dings or scratches, these Spartans were new! The implications made their heads swim, more Spartans, more to take the fight to the enemy with.

Ackerson led them in keeping a small self-satisfied smile, "Lieutenants." He called and three of the new Spartans stepped forward. "These are the last members of your teams, I trust you're prepared for your first operations?"

"Yes, sir." They chorused, their voices so young.

"Good, Pelicans are already waiting for Gauntlet and Flash Teams. Dagger, the Hesperides is inbound in a few hours." He pivoted now looking at the three dumbstruck Spartan-IIs, expression now professionally cold, devoid of the smugness that had been all over it a minute ago. "Each of you is now assigned to one of these teams, _they_ have the ability, _you_ have the experience. They've put in years to earn this, I expect you to share everything you have and to help this generation surpass the last, good luck." With that sense of finality, Ackerson made his way out of the room leaving it in silence.

The veiled hostility wasn't new to Nasir but Ackerson's comments held something else, more like disdain rather than the professional jealousy of the ODSTs. The strangeness of the situation held his attention for a minute before someone broke the stillness.

Jorge glanced at his orders one more time, "Right, which one of you is Bert?"

One of the lieutenants waved him to join the squad, another Lieutenant spoke up, "Carris-137?" The elder Spartan nodded and followed leaving Nasir with the last one.

"Guess you're mine then." The lieutenant chimed.

Nasir just stood there for a moment mulling this all over as the two other teams started out of the room. He keyed TEAMCOM, "I better see you guys again."

Jorge let back "Míg újra találkozunk" out loud as he left and Carris just tapped his shoulder with her fist. And that was that Gold was gone.

Turning his focus back to the younger Spartans especially the officer before him. The hadn't escaped his attention some of the gestures used in the younger teams parting, particularly the two fingered swipe across the faceplate. He needed to know more here so he decided to grab their attention and whistled a simple six note, six tone tune. The younger Spartans visibly twitched now giving the elder their undivided attention, and it only took a moment to gather where they had come from now.

"All out in the free." The lieutenant responded in an almost whisper.

Nasir smiled behind his faceplate before thumbing at the door. "A moment Lieutenant?" The request caused the squad to stir some, no one was quite sure of each other and He knew Jorge and Carris would be having their discussions at some point but Nasir had time now and wasn't about to wait for answers.

After a second's hesitation, the lieutenant nodded and left the room motioning for him to follow. Once they had cleared the door she tapped the panel to shut it before rounding on Nasir, her gaze fixed on his own. "What's this about Chief?" her voice betrayed her intent, curiosity over indignation of rank.

Nasir removed his helmet fixing her with a glare indicating he expected her to do the same and she did. Nasir had to struggle to stay fully composed, too often he relied on his faceplate to cover his face and TEAMCOM to hide his voice. But the appearance of this lieutenant made him want to grimace, she looked younger than he was when he finished training. The elder Spartan finally found his voice again refusing to let this phase him though. "Randall or Kurt?"

Now it was the lieutenant's turn to be shocked, but she wasn't as adept at hiding it. She quickly wiped the shock from her face and narrowed her eyes at Nasir, "I don't know what you're-"

"This is going to go a lot easier if you just assume I have clearance Eltee. Randall went missing in '32, Kurt went missing in '31, everyone else is either dead or deployed. I can't keep track of all of us but there's no way to pull one of us out of duty to train more Spartans without some of us noticing." Nasir relaxed his expression some trying to encourage the same from her.

She appeared to mull this over for a moment, "How do you know it was one of them?"

He smiled and held up his hand. "Because until now I could count the number of people who knew that counter sign and weren't Spartans on one hand and still have fingers left."

She relaxed somewhat at that, "Our primary instructor was an LTJG Kurt Ambrose."

Nasir chewed on that, Ambrose… either it was his family name or ONI had cobbled together an identity for him, either way, it was good news. "Good to hear he's okay. We're you given my file?"

She nodded, "Mostly, there's plenty in there I don't think ONI wants to share. What about you?"

Nasir held his data pad to her, "I'll fill in the blanks later. My orders are pretty well sanitized outside of the code word DAGGER. We didn't even know you guys existed until now."

She took the data pad and quickly scrolled through it scowling slightly. "I'm guessing they sprung this on you here?" She waited for him to affirm with a nod before continuing, "Since you weren't briefed I'm Lieutenant Junior Grade Xue-A029." Xue extended her hand out.

Nasir clasped it and shook, "Warrant Officer Nasir-025." The new rank still felt odd in his mouth.

Xue seemed more at ease now but still a bit off balance, "Want to fill me in on why we're out here now?"

Nasir broke the grip, "I wanted answers, easier to get them with you alone, also wanted privacy so no TEAMCOM." He motioned to her helmet. "That Colonel said you had trained for years so I'm guessing you started around six or seven, he also said 'first operation'. Considering how old you look I'm thinking that this is your first mobilization post training."

Xue couldn't help but just nod, she knew the original Spartans were amazing soldiers but here was one sifting Intel from her just _being there_ and idle words from one officer.

He continued on, "They made you an officer, I'm guessing you were hand picked which means you're a cut above the rest. They promoted me but kept me under you which means either someone underestimates us, doesn't trust us, or is holding a grudge against us. Considering that Colonel's attitude I figure it's all three." Nasir watched as Xue's composed expression almost seemed to falter under all this, sensing her confusion he decided to cut her some slack and explain. "You don't spend as much time working in the dark as we do and not pick up some tricks"

"Ah." Was all she got out for a moment. "You said you'd fill me in, you don't have a problem sharing classified intel?"

"Everything about us" He motioned between the both of them, his expression growing hard, "is need-to-know at our security clearance. And as far as I'm concerned you-" He tapped his helmet against her chest, then against his before letting it hang at his side, "-and I _need to know_."

Xue nodded curtly, understanding his meaning.

His smile returned "Now we can deal with the rest of this later before we forget that you're the Eltee and I'm a Warrant. You want to introduce me to our team?"

Xue just opened the door and moved past Nasir, a small smirk on her face. The Spartan-IIs were legends to her company, larger than life, and here one was even more impressive than she had imagined. He'd proven to be sharper than any instructor and his armor had his combat history etched into it with scars, burns, and dents. Biggest of all he was willing to follow her. In training there had been some trainees who hadn't taken to following the leadership of others well, some adapted and figured it out, some washed out. Nasir had made it clear to her that he knew she was in charge, while at the same showing her that he was far more than anyone from her company was. This was going to be a hell of a team.

* * *

0002 HOURS, FEBRUARY 11, 2537 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ BETA AQUILAE SYSTEM, PLANET NEW CONSTANTINOPLE, ACARASSUS

Rain slapped her armor as the warthog bounced down the rubble strewn street swerving blast craters and wreckage. Xue had trained for everything up to and including orbital drop in an HEV, but none of that compared to Rosenda's driving. The warthog swerved heavy to the right almost throwing Xue from her seat as a bolt of incendiary gel streaked down and detonated in the street throwing shrapnel and cast-off against the warthog. The problem with Covenant weapons, well problem for them at least, was that every round burned bright like a tracer. And as the adage goes, tracers work both ways, as the grunts on the third floor found out the hard way. Udo swung the warthog's gun around and raked the whole floor with chain gun fire silencing any further exchange.

"Do they not get that they've lost this one?" Udo swung the gun back to center as they moved out of the heavier built up area.

Xue glanced up above the horizon in front of them, watching the tiny specks of light fall. "Don't get ahead of yourself Udo." She turned her attention back to ground level. "Just because the fleet's put the covvies on the back foot doesn't mean this is done."

"Yeah, yeah I know boss, just getting itchy."

Xue chuckled, Udo getting itchy typically meant trouble on the horizon, that or something was closer than they knew. Right now they were on their way to support an ODST offensive that was dropping in behind enemy lines. Dagger Team was already fairly far behind lines running strike operations, harassing supply bases, destroying triple-A positions and generally being a pain in the Covenant's hindquarters.

The specks of light descending now were human entry vehicles carrying several companies of ODSTs who's mission was to break a Covenant artillery firebase and allow a new offensive to roll by unopposed. Command had decided that the Helljumper rump battalion could use some Spartan support, which now had half of Dagger hauling 200 klicks overland because fleet couldn't get a pelican out to them.

Xue had split half of Dagger off to support the main line before she, Rosenda and Udo got dropped off on the far side of the Covenant battle line. She'd made contact with Morgan along with Dagger Three and Four, they were now spearpointing the main offensive that would meet them halfway. Something Dagger Three had said, a warning, ' _Don't expect a warm welcome_.' She couldn't understand that, why warn her about other UNSC personnel.

Xue felt the warthog accelerate before Rosenda called out, "Eyes up, ten o'clock!" Rosenda guided the Warthog off the road through the underbrush and straight into a jackal patrol that apparently was waiting in ambush. The sudden sight of the human vehicle changing course and careening right at them caught them off balance and forced them to break and attempt to run with only a few token carbine shots made to try and stop the Spartan filled juggernaut. Only two out of four of them avoided going under the tires. A cough from Xue's battle rifle caught the third and the last caught a burst from the warthog's gun after they had passed. "Skirmishers, means we're getting close."

"I'm not picking up anything on the battle net from the drop boss."

That caught Xue's attention. She quickly started jumping through COM channels picking up only the wider battle net chatter, nothing local. They were less than 20 klicks out and closing with no sign of the force they were supposed to be linking up with, now Xue felt the itch. "Udo, eyes left, Rose, floor it." She and Udo braced themselves as Rosenda gunned the engine and pushed the vehicle faster into the dark, now barreling down service roads having passed out of the outskirts of the last settlement. She was counting the distance down now, klick by klick watching meter after meter of dense jungle lining the road go by in the dull light created by the storm shrouding the orbital firefight overhead.

Suddenly the team sat-link was cut. Xue felt ice water in her veins as she cycled her coms hoping it was a glitch.

"Boss…"

Udo's tone made her blood freeze solid now. "Yeah Udo, mine too. Is it jamming?"

"No I'm still transmitting, best guess is we passed between coverage areas and the satellite for this sector got caught in the crossfire. If we're lucky fleet'll setup an ad-hoc or reroute."

"Might explain why there's been no contact from the forward element."

Xue shifted her COM into standard radio hoping they were already in range. "This is Dagger One to any Blackguard or Wolverine element please respond." She wanted to give it another kilometer before trying again but Udo's voice cut her off.

"Eltee, weapons fire, it's not echos."

She gave it a moment and concentrated drowning out the storm, distant artillery and the roaring engine of the warthog… there! SRS fire had to mean they were only a few klicks out.

"This is Dagger One to any UNSC drop element please respond." Static once again was her only response.

"Boss, you think it's that bad out-" Udo cut his own response when the COM crackled to life.

"This is Blackguard Six, who the hell are you Dagger.

"Sierra-alpha oh two nine, Fleet thought you could use some backup Blackguard."

"You all they sent _Sierra_?" Xue could hear the sneer in the Woman's voice on the other end, Three's warning seemed to be on target.

"We're all that could reach Blackguard. We're chasing the gunfire, keep up the noise." There was no response from Blackguard, but they didn't need one. The sound of weapons fire was getting louder and soon they'd get to pass niceties face to face.

* * *

Most people have never actually seen a Spartan, at least outside of the propaganda. To the average Marine, Spartans were the stuff of tall tales and bullshit passed around the barracks. Even amongst those who've seen one, fewer still could say they'd seen them in combat. The official line from the UNSC was they were elite soldiers equipped with state of the art combat gear. Now your average ODST had an entirely different view of these so-called ' _super soldiers_ '. To a Helljumper, Spartans were just 'glory-hungry bullet catchers' at least until they'd had their carcasses pulled out of the fire at the last second by those same 'bullet catchers'

So when Captain Stone watched a warthog come plowing through the brush to ram right into a hinge head, who seconds before was going to unleash a barrage of plasma on her First-Sergeant, her opinions were only cemented.

The new arrivals wasted no time abandoning the warthog to a fireteam who eagerly accepted the gift of cover, mobility, and firepower. While the three members of Dagger Team spit up and went to work.

The original battle plan was for the two companies of ODSTs to drop in a few hundred meters east of a hilltop that had been garrisoned by the enemy and turned into a reinforced artillery strongpoint. Once in place, the ODSTs would strike at the enemy's rear breaking them and allowing the main UNSC force to press the entire front without reprisal. Of course, this whole plan went to hell when they found out the Covenant on the hill outnumbered them three to one and were much more dug in than expected.

Odds or no odds Captain Stone was prepared to stick it out and claim that hill inch by bloody inch, but when Lieutenant Warren, Charley Company's CO, was killed seconds after climbing out of his pod it threw half their force into disarray for a matter of minutes, and that's all the covvies needed. Stone had rolled the drop survivors and reformed them into a single defensive position at the base of the hill. And while now they were holding their own, without some kind of change the enemy would simply outlast them.

That was where Dagger Team entered the scenario. Now with some additional firepower and a new vanguard, the battle was shifting again. Dagger's first action was dislodging enemy heavy weapons emplacements that had been pinning the Helljumpers down. From there Stone grabbed onto the opportunity, ordering units to advance using the Covenant's now empty defensive fortifications against them.

* * *

Xue could hear the ODST Captain barking orders to follow the Spartan's push, the press was on! The Marines behind her were reinforcing a barricade behind her as she advanced on the next point burning down its occupants with a few bursts. She quickly took cover, crouching behind an energy pavaise, and grabbed the leg of a nearby jackal corpse. Quickly relieving it of its energy shield and affixing it to her own forearm and activated it, watching the blue disc snap into existence. A forward assault like this meant they needed every advantage they could get. Swinging around the pavaise she charged straight into the next Covenant position letting plasma slam into the shield as she closed in. She slung her rifle in exchange for her sidearm, taking shots through the small cutout in the shield and catching a pair of grunts dead on.

She attempted to blindside an Elite manning a plasma cannon but he saw her coming. The blue armored alien lunged at her, smacking into her shield, driving both of them to the ground and knocking her M6 from Her grasp. Xue tried to force him off but he forced his way inside her guard planting one hand on her neck and raising the other, activating an energy Dagger from its wrist. She caught her opportunity when the Elite roared in her face, faster than it could respond, she grabbed one of Its mandibles and folded it back with a snap.

The Elite reared back, roaring in pain with one-quarter of its jaw broken. It's grasp broken Xue grabbed for her sidearm, finding it she rolled forward and jammed the barrel up under the alien's 'mouth', and pulled the trigger, sending a round into its brain case. The Elite slumped down to its side like a puppet with its strings cut.

Xue jumped to her feet and reevaluated the world around her. The whole exchange had taken a matter of seconds and the advance hadn't caught up to her yet. She needed to know where the rest of Dagger was. Keying her TEAMCOM she called for report.

"Five here, we've straightened out the right flank and are beginning to advance."

"Six here, we've turned our flank in and the enemy is in full retreat." Rosenda's report was punctuated by the sound of a grenade followed by Covenant energy cell going critical. "Found an ammo point."

"Slash and burn here, we don't know if we're going to be holding this position, let's not leave the covvies any materiel."

Rosenda's smile permeated the COM, "Already ahead of you Eltee."

The center push was moving faster now, ODSTs were known for being crazy but now they were catching up to her. The entire hillside was alive with tracers and plasma, smoke making the darkness impenetrable to the naked eye. This had gone from a losing fight to a suicidal gamble, but at least Dagger had shifted the odds. Xue lobbed a grenade behind another position scattering its defenders. This time though an Elite tore a plasma cannon from its mount. The Elite's shields shimmered from the shower of dirt and shrapnel but the concussion barely made it flinch.

The Elite let loose a stream of plasma fire attempting to pin her in place, each small pulse of superheated gas striking her shield. Xue unleashed round after round into its armor, trying to draw a bead on its head from her hip. Finally, her shield had had enough and disappeared in a shrill pop leaving her exposed. Wasting no time she pivoted and moved to circle the alien, though not fast enough. She could feel the heat of the plasma fire coming dangerously close, leaving superheated streaks and shallow furrows in her armor.

Losing the shield was all she needed though. Now able to raise her arm she took careful aim and dropped off three rounds only a handful of meters away. All three struck home and the Elite fell back, its head now a mangle of bloody tissue from the sidearm's explosive rounds.

Adrenaline now crashing in Xue's system made her twitchy and allowed her to ignore the pain from the several close calls she had just taken. Her vitals were all over the place but she thanked fate for them not being needler rounds, shrapnel and bleeding were worse than third-degree burns.

There was no stopping though, dropping another pair of targets she reloaded and secured her sidearm in favor of her rifle. The push was nearing the hilltop and the real fight was about to begin.

* * *

Udo's flank had fallen behind, initially but now was picking up speed. The Elites had for some reason attempted to band together in a unified section and while that did leave the grunts and jackals unsupervised, it provided the enemy with a powerful spearhead to counter attack with.

The enemy section had torn into the ODSTs like blades into butter. Plasma rifles flaring and swords flashing, it was a sight one expected from an assault against colonial militia, not special operations. This, however, did not last long. Minutes in the aliens were met by their one natural predator on the battlefield, the front bumper of an M12 Force Application Vehicle, a warthog.

The Marines driving the recon vehicle were now trying to run over everything in sight as it looked like the gun had been slagged by plasma. The plan worked rather well too as their first pass caught no less than four Elites with a wide drift. Their luck though ran short when a fuel rod cannon struck the warthog, turning it into a tumbling mass of shrapnel and the sending the Marines inside it flying.

Udo hadn't let them go unavenged very long before finding the responsible Grunt and killing it with nothing more than a fierce kick to its chest. His rifle could've easily done the job but sometimes things like this required a… personal touch as Morgan would say.

Now on the move up the hill, the rest of the enemy force was mostly leader less and easily routed allowing them to catch up to the other fronts. That was about the moment Udo saw his commander's vitals spike on his HUD.

"Boss! You okay over there?" While his discipline kept him in his position, instincts honed in training at Camp Currahee were driving him to his squad leader's side.

Xue's voice rasped over TEAMCOM, "I'll live. Now-"

Whatever she was planning on saying was lost in the next moment. The storm that was going on overhead opened up on them with a streak of light across the sky followed by a shockwave that deafened everything below. The telltale crack of a hypersonic MAC round reaching them before the feeling through the ground from the impact kilometers away. Things must have devolved in orbit for them to authorize full-scale MAC rounds.

The next scene was something that Udo couldn't have imagined, an image out of some strange dream or maybe a nightmare. A covenant ship descending out of the clouds over them, but it wasn't spewing fire or launching banshees. It took a moment but as it was coming down a predatory grin spread behind his visor. Udo could see it had been cracked wide open!

The falling ship was now fragmenting with the bulk drifting away from the force of the MAC round. Burning shrapnel and wreckage left falling in its wake. Fire raining from the sky, regardless of where it came from, was dangerous to all sides and this particular fire was poised to fall all around them.

Udo shook himself from his hesitation, this was just indirect fire of another nature, there was no running, no avoiding it, too much, too spread out. Better to ignore it and just pray it doesn't strike home.

* * *

Fire in the sky. Not her problem, not yet.

Rosenda poured fire from her SAW burning through an Elite's shield before it broke with a flash and rounds tore into its chest and face puncturing armor then bone. Several Grunts followed their leader down with another sweep of fire ending the enemy squad entirely.

She was ahead of her flank and knee deep in _former_ hostiles. She made sure to bring her boot down hard on the neck of the still twitching Elite as she passed over it. The top of the hill was now in view and the final push was on.

A scoop and toss sent a recovered plasma grenade flying into a shade turret. The poor Grunt operating it attempted to escape from its seat but didn't quite make it out of the blast radius. The explosion caught the small alien's methane tank causing it to cook off. The combination left the Grunt scrambling around on fire screeching panicking the already harried defenders.

It wasn't even a challenge by this point. The vast majority of the Elites had rushed to the battle line leaving the hilltop guarded mostly by Grunts and Jackals. Bursts cut down target after target as the hill got clearer and clearer. Crossfire was diminishing as the ODSTs were finally cleaning up the stragglers behind her. Now all she had left was the little bastards up top with her.

She took cover behind a covenant supply pod and dropped her drum, reloading quickly before pressing back into her advance. The chatter of her SAW overpowering the cries of her targets.

Fire in the sky still wasn't her problem yet.

Her problems were shrinking one by one.

* * *

The storm was picking up now wind and rain swirling around them, plasma fires raged from destroyed Covenant emplacements, thunder and lightning began to crack over their heads, fire and debris raining down in small pockets as the dying frigate slowly fell and drifted to its death kilometers away.

Xue now watched the world burn around her as the last of Covenant were run down. Charging up the last bit of the hill she saw what remained of the Covenant post. Rosenda had beaten them all there and had cut a bloody swathe through the enemy lines ahead of her flank. ODSTs were just now starting field expedient demolition of enemy supplies and artillery while others began setting up defensive positions.

Xue turned to see the frigate finally strike ground crumpling and digging out the earth underneath it as the massive bulk struck down. The impact was muted from its slow descent, likely its engines were still operational to some extent. Command would be happy with wreckage that intact.

Her thoughts turned inward for a moment, this had been their first joint operation with UNSC ground forces. For the last few months, Dagger had been operating independently occasionally getting intel or supplies but never linking up for direct action. Months of hit and run and ambushes behind enemy lines. They had only alone, just Dagger.

Now Xue was standing on a field after a blitz action that was as fast as it was bloody. She had read action reports, reviewed combat footage, heard first-hand accounts, even exposed to preserved casualties but nothing prepared her for dozens of bodies, _human_ bodies, littering the hillside and drop zone below. These were supposed to be Marines they were there to help were now just so many dead upon the cold wet ground.

Her reverie was broken by Udo's voice in her ear and the sound of wet footfalls behind her. "Mop-up's all done boss, we're clear here unless the covvies decide they want their spot back."

Xue swallowed her rising gorge keeping her eyes on the burning wreckage,"Well we already have the next target." She nodded to the wreckage off in the distance now mostly hidden by the tree line and the plume of smoke still swirling up from the storm. Changing COM channels she tried to raise the ODST commander, "Blackguard Six, this is Dagger One. We're moving to clear and secure what's left of that frigate."

"Roger Dagger, you're on your own there. I need everyone I have left to secure this position." Captain Stone's voice still hard and indignant, likely still unhappy with command's choice of her reinforcements.

Xue brushed off the sentiment again, "Acknowledged Blackguard." Flipping through her COM channels she checked for the UNSC battlenet, still only silence. The rest of Dagger would have to make due without them for now.

Rosenda came up behind her fellow teammates, "D'ya think Three knows what's going on with these guys and their attitude?"

Xue nodded before waving them to follow as she started for the wreckage. "I think when we're done here he owes us a better explanation."

A silence settled in as they covered ground before Udo spoke up, "Anyone else feel like throwing up?"

It wasn't really a question.

* * *

So there's chapter 4 wrapped, mostly building up around the central team of the story and some action to flesh a couple of them out. Okay let's start with Dramatis Personae introduced here

LTJG Xue-A029, initial commander of Dagger Team. (OC)

PO2 Udo-A042, Dagger Five (OC)

PO2 Rosenda-A344, Dagger Six (OC)

Captain Stone, ODST battalion commander (OC)

Colonel James Ackerson, ONI, SPARTAN-III mastermind (Halo: The Fall of Reach)

So Dagger with the exception of Rosenda is all OC, hard working with such a limited cannon crowd sometimes. Technically there would be about 3 more cameos in the initial meeting but little drop ins like that don't really work super well in writing without feeling forced. Technically Carter, Thom, and Emile are all there in one or the other of the two other squads. I figure teams would have bodies reshuffled over the years depending on the situation as we see with Noble Six being transferred in to replace Thom.

For those of you who recognize the campaign, yes Alpha company was on New Constantinople, no these two deployment's aren't related. It's much like how Noble knew Gauntlet, Red, and Echo were on Reach but they didn't interact. Alpha had their black op out of sight while Dagger had their support tasking, neither knew the other was there.

Ackerson is not a one shot here, he'll be back eventually. It's hard though to make his smug sense of superiority come off as more than just gloating. Here he's produced Spartans on par (so he thinks) with the IIs and at much cheaper and much faster. The Cat-II teams will be the central focus here for a while (I hope). The promotion of Gold Team is there because here Ackerson, while derisive of Halsey and her program, acknowledges their expertise. Which is exactly one of the points of having a senior non-com in a unit, platoon Sergeant, first-sergeant, sergeant major.

Funny thing here is all of the SIII personnel here are between 10 and 13. This is also their first campaign, by this point they've been in theater for 2-3 months. By this stage, they've only worked with a few scattered Marine fireteams and seen only a handful of casualties being so far out in the backfield. Take it from someone who's seen it, there's a world of difference between one or two casualties and dozens at a time, a difference between the enemy and your own, a difference between the species of the dead. Now I'm not saying these Spartans are weak, or fragile as humans but SIII candidates aren't comparable to SII ones, even the Cat-II ones. Instead, I want to show that these Spartans are still susceptible to shock and psychological trauma.

So I'm hoping next chapter to get to have more dialogue focusing on how they're reacting. Let's face it Noble Team was about as healthy as Doc Holiday.

Still looking for a beta, or an editor. Basically needs someone to bounce off of. Working solo bites.

Also noticed I actually have followers, neat. Hope you guys are enjoying it so far.


End file.
